Take Me Out
by mlep
Summary: Lily arrives at Hogwarts at the beginning of her 5th year from the US. With no preformed ideas, she gets to know everyone as they really are, and gets involved in stuff that no Gryffindor has experienced before.
1. Slytherin

I redid the first chapter a little bit and reposted it, so here it is! I hope you like it better then the old one!

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Lily Evans looked apprehensively at the puffing scarlet engine waiting to take her to her new school. She half listened to her mother chattering next to her as she watched the milling students.

"Don't worry dear," her mother's voice broke through clearly, "I'm sure it's just like the institute back in the States. You'll be fine."

Lily smiled halfheartedly and gave her mother a hug.

"I know I will, Mom. I'm just disppointed that Dad couldn't come see me off."

"You know he feels really bad about that, but Petunia's recital is important too. She-" she broke off as an older looking girl with a broad face approached them.

"Excuse me, are you the Evans'? she asked loudly.

Lily's mother nodded, "Yes, I'm Mrs. Evans and this is my daughter, Lily."

"I'm Amelia Susan Bones, Hogwarts Head Girl," she said as she shook hands with them, "I'm here to help Lily settle in."

The train let out a long whistle. Amelia glanced back.

"That's the last call. We should get on."

"Oh alright then, "Lily's mom patted her on the back, "You'd better get going then! Have a great time! We'll see you at Christmas!" she hurried away before Lily could say anything.

"Shall we go?" Amelia was waiting.

"Yeah, ok," Lily followed Amelia onto the train and into a compartment labeled 'Reserved'. Amelia settled herself comfortably into a seat and motioned for Lily to do the same.

"So," she began, "You'll be coming in as a fifth year. You came here from the US, right?"

"Yeah, my family-"

"You have a sister, right? Is she going to come here too?"

Lily grimaced at the thought, "No, she's definitely not magical."

Amelia grinned, "Oh, she's that type? I'm sorry. Make's me grateful that my family's all pureblood."

"Are there a lot of purebloods here? At my old school it was almost all mixed blood."

"There are quite a few, although the numbers are dwindling. Unfortunately, that issue can be very touchy at Hogwarts and is the reason for a lot of interhouse hostility. A lot of purebloods look down on those of mixed descent. Actually, that reminds me: have you heard about the houses?"

Lily nodded, "But I don't know what house I'm in yet."

"No, you'll be sorted tonight. When we get to the station, don't take the boats with the first years; take the carriages with the rest of the school. When you get to the Castle, wait in the Front Hall."

"How-" Lily began.

"Professor McGonagall will come get you. She's rather severe looking, wears glassesand a tight bun. Try to make a good impression, it'll do wonders for you later on. She'll take you to get sorted. I'd love to have you in Hufflepuff, but you'll probably be in Ravenclaw. You look kind of brainy," she punctuated this last remark with a breathless laugh.

Lily smiled stiffly.

"Anyways, don't worry about it too much," she glanced at her watch, "I've got to head over to the Prefect's meeting. I doubt Augustus bothered to show up. Any questions?"

"Well," Lily hesitated for a second, "I don't think-"

"Great! Well, you need to find another compartment," Amelia said as she started to leave, "They'll need this one later. See you around!"

Lily stared after her, brain whirling, then jumped as Amelia stuck her head back in and almost shouted, "Don't forget to avoid the Slytherins!" and then disappeared again.

Lily got up and peered out the door, making sure that Amelia had actually left this time.

The corridor was empty. She sighed and stepped out of the compartment.

"Slytherins," she muttered, "That's another house, right? How am I supposed to recognize them? And why should I avoid them anyways?"

She quickly discovered that the compartments were full, or the remaining seats were being reserved for someone.

By the time she was nearing the end of the train, she was beginning to suspect that people just didn't want her to sit with them. The last compartment she had entered had broken into shrill laughter as soon as she shut the door.

She yanked open the door to the last compartment violently and winced as it smashed into the side, startling the three occupents.

"Um, mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," Lily said into the sudden silence.

The sharp-eyed girl in the corner looked at her carefully, "You're new, aren't you?"

"Yeah, my family just moved here from the US."

"Alright then, you can sit with us. I'm Bellatrix Black. This is Severus Snape," she gestured to a thin boy with long black hair, "and this is the Head Boy, Augustus Rookwood," she finished with a tall boy with cold eyes. The two nodded in turn at Lily.

"I'm Lily Evans, nice to meet you," Lily sat down in the seat next to Severus and smiled slightly at him. He looked coldly at her and slightly raised his eyebrows. Lily stopped smiling quickly and looked away.

"So, I met the Head Girl earlier. She seemed nice," Lily said tentatively.

"Amelia Susan Bones is one of the slowest people on the face of this planet, but unfortunately, she was the best option of our year. Apparently she's sturdy," Augustus said annoyedly. Severus snorted softly.

Bellatrix laughed, "You know Dumbledore just wanted someone to offset you. Anyways, she's got a boyfriend now who should take up some of her time. Maybe keep her off our backs for a little."

Augustus ran his fingers through his hair, "I'm just frustrated. Me getting this position hasn't seemed to help us at all."

Bellatrix laughed again, "Relax! The year's barely started. Which reminds me, Lestrange said he was interested in coming to the next meeting."

Severus hissed and leaned forward impatiently, making Lily jump.

The only reason he wants to come is because he's completely infatuated with you. I doubt the Dark Lord--"

Bellatrix made an angry noise and glanced at Lily, "Maybe we should talk about this later."

Severus shrugged nonchalantly and turned to Lily, "So what house are you going to be in?"

"I'm not sure yet. Amelia said maybe Hufflepuff."

Bellatrix snorted, "I hope not! The Hufflepuffs are all idiots. You might get put into Ravenclaw, you seem rather bright. They're ok, much better then the Gryffindors. Stuck-up pigs, the lot of them."

"Speaking of Gryffindors, I think Peter Pettigrew has a crush on you, Bellatrix," Augustus said with a yawn."

"The little rat-faced one always tagging after Potter? I hope not!" Bellatrix looked dismayed at the prospect.

"No, no... this could be very good. It would be useful to have someone in so tight with Gryffindor's inner group. I think you'll have to work with this Bellatrix. Get a hold of someone close to Potter," Augustus said thoughtfully.

Talking about me again, are you?" came an arrogant drawl from the doorway.

Lily turned and saw a tall boy with untidy black hair smirking at her.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes, "Yeah Potter, we can't stop thinking about you, you stuck-up prick."

A very good-looking boy with longish dark hair standing behind Potter laughed, "Why James, I do believe we've found three new members for your fan club! Possibly even four! I don't believe I've met you before," he said, turning to Lily, "The name's Sirius Black," he bowed deeply and waited expectantly.

"Lily Evans," Lily said warily.

Sirius raised his eyebrows, "What, already antagonistic? You've been misguided. I would be happy to set you upon the right path, if you would just give me the chance."

Lily snorted softly.

"Where are Lupin and Pettigrew?" Severus cut in suddenly, "You four are usually joined at the hip."

James shook his head disgustedly, "Now Snape, we all know about your little obsession with Peter, but do you have to be so blunt about it?"

"Enough," Augustus stood up, "You two get out and find someone else to bother or I'll give you both detentions."

"For what? We're simply trying to become acquainted with the new students," Sirius whined.

Augustus pulled out his wand and pointed it straight at Sirius, "Out. Now."

"Chill, chill. We're leaving. Nice meeting you by the way!" Sirius blew a kiss at Lily as he shut the compartment door.

Bellatrix shook her head in disgust, "That was the infamous James Potter and his right hand man, Sirius Black. They are without doubt the two most arrogant students in the school. Just one more reason to avoid Gryffindor," she glanced out the window as the train started to slow down, "We're almost there, better get your stuff together."

Lily followed the other three off the train and to a line of horseless carriages.

"Do those carriages run on magic?" Lily asked Bellatrix curiously.

"Contrary to popular opinion, no. They're pulled by thestrals."

"Um... what?"

"They're skeletal creatures that can only be seen by someone who has seen death. Which is, generally, mostly the Slytherin population. Most of the rest of the school doesn't know about them. Yet another so called 'school secret' that is secret to everyone but the Slytherins," Bellatrix said as she stepped into a carriage.

Lily followed, "Are there a lot of those then? School secrets?"

"You have no idea."

"So, wait, you guys are Slytherins?"

Bellatrix laughed, "Took you a little while. So no one warned you about us?"

"Amelia did, about Slytherins in general."

"She would," Bellatrix leaned forward suddenly, "Listen Lily. There's something you have to understand about Slytherins. Everyone else is afraid of us. You know why? We know things that we're not supposed to know. We do things that they wouldn't even dare think about. We see things that only exist in their darkest nightmares. And we're still here, in the same classes, eating the same meals, and not looking much different from the rest of them. They don't understand it and it frightens them. So they shun us and make up nasty rumors. Guess it makes them feel better, for a little at least. But deep down they know that we're still in control. To be a Slytherin is to have power, Lily, never forget that," she stopped talked as the carriage came to a stop, and got out with Severus and Rodolphus, leaving Lily to follow with her thoughts.

Augustus leaned over to Bellatrix as they walked across the lawn, "You left out some of the finer points in that little speech of yours."

Bellatrix glanced sharply at him, "I wasn't trying to scare her. That was something she needs to know."

Severus grimaced slightly on her other side, "We don't usually lay that out so plainly to non-Slytherins."

"We don't usually get a chance."


	2. An Empty Bed

A/N: Ok, here's the next chapter. The third one isn't quite finished yet. I've kind of hit a block (a small one). It should be up within the week. Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

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Lily watched Bellatrix walking away and blinked a couple of times. That was interesting. She started walking up the lawn with the rest of the school, towards a huge castle. She forget about Bellatrix for a little and gaped.

She caught a couple of strange looks from people going past and quickly shut her mouth and continued walking. The castle was magnificent! She couldn't wait to see what the rest looked like.

She stepped into a large hall, decided that this was where she was supposed to wait, and found a corner to settle in. Students wandered by, all heading for a large pair of doors across the floor. Lily caught a glimpse of long tables filled with chattering students and exhaled as a wave of homesickness overtook her.

She missed her friends. Bellatrix seemed nice enough, but nothing like the people she was used to hanging out with. She sighed and rubbed her forehead wearily. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. She opened them after about ten minutes when she heard footsteps in the now empty hall.

"I take it you're Miss Evans?" a stern woman with a severe expression approached Lily.

"Yes. Are you Professor McGonagall?"

"Yes. Did you have a fun train ride? Make any friends?"

"I met a few people, like Bellatrix Black."

"Did you now," Professor McGonagall frowned slightly, "Ah, well, it can't be helped, you'd have met her soon enough. Anyways, it's time for you to be sorted. Follow me please."

She turned around and walked through the large doors into a dining hall with four long tables packed full of students, and a shorter one that appeared to contain the teachers. She walked straight to a stool in the middle of the hall, upon which was sitting a battered hat with a wide rip in the brim. She motioned to Lily, who walked forward hesitantly. Everyone was watching her!

"Put on the hat!" McGonagall hissed at her.

Lily reached out and carefully set the hat on her head, then jumped out of her skin when she heard it talking to her in her head.

"Hmmm, where should you go? I don't often get to sort an older student, they're much harder. Seem to sort of mesh into everything, if you know what I mean. Hmmm... possibly Ravenclaw, you've got a large brain mass in there, hee hee. Oh, what's this? Maybe Gryffindor!"

"_Oh no, not Gryffindor!_" Lily thought.

"Not Gryffindor! Why ever not? Well, we'll see. There's definitely Slytherin possibility in there, but ... I can't justify that, not with what's hidden here.. nope, it will have to be... GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily opened her eyes in dismay and slowly took off the hat. McGonagall was looking very pleased, and a little relieved. Lily walked slowly over to the table that was clapping loudly and whistling. She was horrified to see James and Sirius waving at her and motioning to a seat across from them. She looked around frantically and was relieved to see a girl with fiery red hair beckoning.

She hurried up and smiled shyly, "Hi, I'm Lily Evans."

The girl smiled warmly, "Hi Lily, nice to meet you. I'm Molly Prewett, 5th year Gryffindor."

"Oh, me too!"

"Then you'll probably be rooming with me and Alice!" she motioned to a small girl with wispy hair and a round face.

"Hi," the girl said with a small smile.

The girl on her other side leaned around her and stuck out her hand, "I'm Bertha Jorkins, 7th year. I hear you're from the US,"

Molly leaned over and whispered in Lily's ear, "The biggest gossip in the school; never tell her anything."

Bertha kept on talking, "I've never been there, though almost everyone tells me that it's nice. There was Timothy though, he said it was a garbage heap, although that was probably just because his girlfriend had dumped him. But still, there was also..."

"Sometimes you just have to tune her out," Alice shrugged slightly, "She'll go off on a tangent for as long as you'll let her."

"Mmm, I've known people like her," Lily smiled, then looked over to where James and Sirius were sitting. They were laughing with two boys: a thin one with light brown hair, and a small plump boy with a strange resemblance to a rat, who Lily could not help but assume was the Peter Pettigrew that Bellatrix had been talking about earlier.

She glanced over to the Slytherin table at Bellatrix, who was sitting next to a girl with long blond hair. She was talking heatedly to the group of guys around her, pausing every now and then to take a sip from her goblet.

Lily let her gaze wander over the other tables, finally resting on James and Sirius again. She couldn't help but admit that they were hot. Then she noticed a tall boy with glasses and red hair who was watching someone down by Lily.

Molly noticed where she was looking and leaned over, "That's Arthur Weasley. He's had a crush on Alice since third year. She's completely oblivious though."

Lily glanced at Alice, then turned as the headmaster stood up and cleared his throat.

"I hope everyone has had a good feast! Unfortunately, it is now time to go to bed in preparation for your first day of classes tomorrow! First years please follow prefects to your dormitory, everyone else, please do not stay up too late!"

He sat down and people started getting up and leaving all over the hall. Lily stood uncertainly, but Molly touched her arm, "Just follow me, I'm a prefect."

Alice smiled slightly and began to yell with a surprisingly strong voice, "Gryffindor first years! Over here Gryffindor first years! Follow me!"

Lily shook her head and walked after them with the quiet first years who were bunching together in small groups. Lily smiled at the one closest to her, who looked terrified and tried to hide behind her friend. Lily shook her head and sighed.

"Am I really that scary looking?" she muttered to Molly, who just laughed.

The group stopped before a large portrait of a fat lady and a pink dress.

"Everyone can hear me? All right. This is the Pink Lady. Now listen up, make sure you hear the password. _Hopnitch!_" Molly stepped inside as the portrait opened.

Lily breathed in slowly as she looked around. There were squishy chairs scattered around the room and a roaring fire built in the fireplace. She listened while Molly told everyone where their rooms where, and wondered a little about the total size of the castle.

"Hey," Molly came up alongside her, "Ready to see your room?"

"Yeah, but I was wondering, just how big is Hogwarts?"

"Well, no one's really sure. I don't think even Dumbledore knows exactly what there is hidden away down some random corridor."

"Wait, so there could be something hidden away that no one knows about?"

"Theoretically, but nothing dangerous. The castle has been screened for Dark magic multiple times. Anyways, our dorm is up these stairs to the left," Molly led the way into a snug room with four canopy beds. Two of the four corners were decorated with smiling posters and waving pictures.

"Were there only two people in the room?" Lily looked around, confused.

"Nah, there's one other girl, but she's never around. I'm not even sure what her name is. Do you know Molly?" Alice said as she walked into the room.

Molly shrugged, "I feel a little bad. I don't think she has any friends, but she doesn't ever talk to anyone. That's gonna be your bed over in that corner, Lily, next to Alice. Now I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired. I'll see you in morning," she jumped onto her bed and pulled the curtains shut.

Alice headed off to the bathroom, and Lily walked over to her bed and sat down. She glanced around the room and looked at the unoccupied bed. It looked as if no one was staying there. She shivered, looked away, and then looked back again. She had a uneasy feeling that someone was watching her.

_"Don't be stupid!"_ she thought, _"There's no one watching you. You just have an overactive imagination!"_

She sighed, glanced once more at the empty bed, and pulled her curtains shut. She laid there for a while and listened to Molly and Alice get ready for bed and fall asleep. She looked out and saw that the other bed was still empty.

_"What time is it?"_ she thought as she stifled a yawn, _"I really should go to sleep."_

She collapsed back into her blankets, and then stiffened as she heard the door slowly creak open. Peaking out through the crack between the curtains, she saw a very tall, slender girl with long dark hair enter. Lily shrunk back as the girl looked in her direction, and then watched as she disappeared behind the curtains. Lily watched the bed for a while, but the girl did not emerge, and Lily finally fell asleep.

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A/N: Ooohhh, what's up with the mystery girl? She's important.. 

Please review!


	3. Mixing

A/N: Here you go, this chapter's slightly longer then the first two. Hope you like it! Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

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Lily woke up the next morning slightly confused, but quickly oriented herself. She pulled open her curtains to find that Molly and Alice were still asleep, and the mystery girl had already left.

She rubbed her eyes wearily and stumbled out of bed, hitting her shin on her nightstand. She grabbed her leg and started hopping around the room, cursing angrily. Molly poked her head out of her curtains and blinked at Lily.

"Exercising so early in the morning? I hope this isn't a daily occurrence, or me and Alice might petition to have you assigned to a different room."

"No, I just hit my leg on something. Anyways, it's nearly 7:30. You'd better get up," Lily limped to the bathroom and shut the door.

When she came out 5 minutes later, Molly and Alice were ready and waiting for her. Lily stopped short and stared at them.

"How on earth did you get ready so quickly? Alice was still sleeping when I went into the bathroom!"

Molly shrugged, "We like to sleep as late as we can. Get ready quickly; we're hungry."

Still shaking her head in disbelief, Lily got dressed quickly, grabbed her books, and stuffed them into her bag.

"Alright, let's go eat," Molly led the way out the door and down the stairs into the common room. Lily was dismayed and secretly pleased to see James and Sirius standing around. They looked up as the girls came down the stairs, and James waved casually.

"Hey guys, what's up? We were waiting for you."

"For us?" Molly raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well, for Lily, really. We wanted to apologize," James turned to Lily, "I'm really sorry if we upset you yesterday. We really are nice guys! We've been fighting with those guys since 1st year, and they really are nasty! You should see them sometimes!"

"Anyways," cut in Sirius, "We were hoping that you could give us another chance. Get to see what we're really like," he glanced at James and nodded. They both got on their knees with hands clasped and fluttered their eyelashes madly.

"Please!" they chimed in unison.

Molly burst out laughing, "You guys look ridiculous! I would love to see you do that during lunch, maybe for Snape."

James made a face, "Eww... Molly! I haven't eaten yet!"

Lily giggled, "Alright you guys. I'll be nice. Just don't get into any fights with my friends in front of me. Now let's go, I'm starving!"

Sirius made a face, "Your friends? Slimy, greasy Snape is not my idea of a good friend. But if that's all we can get, I'll guess we'll take it."

Lily glared at him and he held up his hands as if to ward of a blow.

"Oh stop it! We have to concentrate on important things. Like making sure that Lily meets everyone she needs to!" Molly grabbed Lily with one arm and Alice with another and marched out of the common room. James and Sirius followed behind.

When they got to the Great Hall, Molly turned to Lily, "Right now we're only going to go meet Gryffindors. You'll meet the rest in your classes."

She led Lily over to a group of people sitting at one end of the table, "Hey you guys! I'd like to introduce you to Lily Evans. She's just moved here from the US."

There was a general chorus of 'hi's. Lily sat down next to a thin boy with brown hair that she had seen sitting with James and Sirius earlier. He stuck out his hand.

"Hi, I'm Remus Lupin. Are you a fifth year?"

"Yeah, I'm roommates with Molly and Alice, and some other girl. Who do you room with?"

Remus grimaced slightly, "James, Sirius, and Peter. Can't get anything done in that room."

The boy sitting on the other side of Remus leaned over and said with a slightly squeaky voice, "I'm never loud, Remus. It's just James and Sirius who make all the noise. They're completely distracting."

"Peter, you know you wouldn't get anything done even if they were studious."

Peter's protests were drowned out by Bertha Jorkins leaning over the table, "I heard that James and Sirius actually do study. They just do it in the middle of the night so that no one will know."

"What would be the point of that? Why wouldn't they just study at a normal time? We all know how much they like to sleep," said the red-head sitting next to Bertha that Molly had pointed out earlier. He stuck his hand across the table at Lily, "Hi, I'm Arthur Weasley, 6th year prefect."

Lily shook his hand, "Nice to meet you, Arthur!"

Bertha poked Arthur in the arm, "Arthur, let's get back on subject! Now you know, James and Sirius didn't always study. In first and second years they goofed off. Now they have a reputation to keep up, so they have to hide their studying. You didn't think they actually got good grades without doing anything, did you?"

Alice sighed, "Bertha, you must know that James and Sirius are geniuses. If they actually studied they would academically outstrip everyone in a flash."

Bertha sniffed, "I don't think so. Some of us do have brains."

There was a sudden silence. Molly coughed slightly.

"Well, now that you're done discussing whether or not we have brains, let's talk about you, Lily!" James said brightly, "What sort of stuff did you study back where you came from?"

"Probably the same stuff as you; Charms, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy... you know, that sort of stuff."

"Have you taken any Divination?"

Lily frowned, "No, I haven't. Is it offered here?"

Sirius chuckled, "Is it ever! It will be required for you. You should check your schedule."

Lily pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and set it on the table. Molly leaned over and looked at it.

"What's this supposed to mean? 1St, 2nd, lunch? This doesn't look like a normal schedule," she pulled her schedule out of her bag, "Hey, mine looks like that too! What's going on?"

Everyone around the table began to pull out their schedules and scrutinize them.

"Hey! Mine's weird too!"

"Mine too! What's going on?"

Dumbledore stood up carefully at the head table and cleared his throat, "Ahem."

The noise in the Great Hall subsided.

"As some of you may have noticed, the scheduling this year is different."

Mummers broke out over the hall as students found their schedules and noticed the changes.

"We have decided to switch to a new, more rigorous, schedule. Classes will begin at the normal time, but will end much later. Each class will last for 1 ½ hours, and there will be 30 free minutes between each class. Time slots have been allotted for lunch, dinner, and free time. I would advise taking notes on the new time allotments. The new schedule is as follows: the first time period is from 8:00 to 9:30. The second time period is from 10:00 to 11:30. An hour is set aside for lunch, from 11:30 to 12:30. The third time period is from 12:30 to 2:00. The fourth time period is from 2:30 to 4:00. You will have 2 hours of free time form 4:00 to 6:00. This will be when Quidditch practice and club meetings will take place during the week. You are free to do whatever you wish, within the school rules. Then dinner is from 6:00 to 7:00. The fifth time period is from 7:00 to 8:30. The sixth time period is from 9:00 to 10:30. This will be the end of your school day," he paused as people began to talk loudly throughout the hall, "I know this sounds like a long time, but most of you do not have classes the entire time, and will have one or more of these time periods off, and can use it as free time. I suggest that you look over your schedules again to make sure that you understand the new system."

Lily looked down at her schedule. She had five classes a day except for Friday, when she had four. She looked over at Molly's schedule.

"Hey look! We have a lot of classes together!"

Molly chuckled, "Well, considering that we're in the same house and year... but you're taking some classes that I'm not: Astronomy and Ancient Runes. The rest are all standard. Pretty much all of the Gryffindor fifth years will have those classes with us."

"Oh," Lily frowned at her schedule. Remus laughed on her other side.

"It's not that bad; don't look so glum! Now, what do we have first? Charms, that's usually a fun class!"

"Actually," said Alice, "We should probably get going."

People all along the hall were beginning to stand up and leave for their first classes. The group at the Gryffindor table followed suit.

Lily found herself walking next to Sirius.

"We have Charms with Hufflepuff," he said leaning over her, "Some of them are a bit daft, so we can have fun and then pin it on them. Flitwick never knows the difference."

"You are so bad!" Lily said, half laughing, "Is that all you do at school? Play pranks?"

Sirius thought for a sec, "Yeah, pretty much. We have to go to class, but we don't ever pay attention."

"We? Who's 'we'?"

"We? What on earth are you talking about, Lily? Now excuse me a sec, but I have just noticed something that needs my immediate attention," he hurried over to to James as they walked into the classroom

Lily shook her head and put her books down at a table behind James and Sirius. The other Gryffindors put their stuff on the same side of the room. Another group came in, that Lily assumed were the Hufflepuffs, and sat down on the other side of the room. Lily's mouth twitched slightly. She found it amusing that the houses seemed unwilling to sit with each other.

Lily looked up to the front of the room and saw a tiny man sitting on a stack of books on his chair.

_"Is that the professor?"_ she thought incredulously.

The little man waved his hands above his head, "Alright everyone, stop talking for a little. I have an anouncement. Dumbledore has decided that this year we will be encouraging house mixing."

There was a general moan from the class.

"If he thinks I'm going to be friends with Snivilly, he's out of his mind!" Sirius whispered to James, who snorted softly.

"Pay attention! This means that there will be assigned seats for every class! You will be paired with someone from another house, unless there is an uneven number of people in the houses. Pettigrew! Put that away and pay attention! Here are the pairings. As I say the names, I'll point to where you are going to be sitting, so please watch me. Pettigrew, Potter," he pointed to the seat directly to his right, "Bagman, Nargott. Jones, Lupin. Fenwick, Prewett. Evans, Bones. Black, Warbeck."

Lily went to her seat in the second row and watched as a skinny boy with messy blond hair sat down next to her.

"Hi, I'm Lily."

The boy nodded to his desk, "I'm Edgar Bones."

"Oh, are you Amelia's little brother?"

He nodded again.

"You must be really proud of her, being Head Girl and all1"

The boy didn't say anything, but figited with his hands under the desk.

Lily sighed deeply and settled down for a long year. She looked around at the other pairs. They were mostly talking cheerily with each other.

The small man up front cleared his throat, "Now that you've had a chance to meet your new partner, let's get to work. This year, we have a new student from the United States. Lily Evans, please come up front and introduce yourself."

Lily stood up reluctantly.

"Come, come!" the little man beckoned welcomingly.

She went to the front of the class, "Um, hi."

"Hello, hello!" the teacher smiled happily.

"Um, my name's Lily Evans, and I'm from the US. I'm a fifth year. Um, I have a sister and two parents. They sent me here."

The class chuckled.

"Alright, fine then. I'll talk. My name is Professor Flitwick, and I teach Charms. Today I will be working with you, Lily, to figure out exactly where you are on the Charms curriculum. The rest of the class,.." and here he began to speak loudly and turned towards the class, "..will be going through a review list of basic charms to revive your minds from their summer apathy. Here's the list; get to work," he turned to Lily and smiled again, "Alright then, ready to get to work? My office is right over here."

Lily followed him through the door, mentally reviewing charms in her head.


	4. Unknown Roots

A/N: Wow, I've just been cranking them out today! Hope you like them! Please, please, please review! Let me know what you think! What you want to see! Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

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When Lily walked out of Professor Flitwick's office an hour and 15 minutes later, she was feeling pleased with herself. She had nailed every charm and was apparently at the level of a NEWT Charms student. Flitwick had invited her to join the Charms club, which mostly consisted of 7th years, a few 6th years, and only one other 5th year.

Professor Flitwick had told her that she could just leave early, since she obviously didn't need to review any of the charms. She started down the hallway, but realized that she had no idea where she was going. Oh well, she'd have to wait for everyone else.

"Hey Lily!"

Lily turned and saw Bellatrix and two other girls walking towards her.

"Hi Bellatrix! What do you have next?"

"Potions, I think. Should be the same as you."

"Yeah! I just had Charms. Flitwick let me out early, but I don't know where to go. Could I walk with you?"

"Yeah, sure. Let me introduce you to my friends," Bellatrix gestured to the girls on either side of her, "This is Narcissa, my sister," she pointed to a tall girl with long, blond hair, "and this is Emmeline Vance."

The latter was a very slender, stately looking girl with very long, white blond hair and pale green eyes. Lily nodded to each in turn, "Hi, I'm Lily Evans."

They started to walk down the hall as classes began to empty around them.

"What house are you in?" Narcissa asked.

"I'm Gryffindor."

Narcissa's eyebrows rose above her hairline as she turned to look at Bellatrix.

"Oh, come off it," said Bellatrix roughly, "she's not like the others. Augustus has vouched for her. Let it go."

Narcissa shrugged slightly.

Emmeline frowned, "Are you pureblood?"

Lily looked down at her feet, "To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure."

"Not sure? How--"

Bellatrix jabbed her sharply in the side.

Lily took a deep breath, "I'm adopted. No one knows where I came from. The Muggle police found me when I was just a few weeks old, hidden in the garden of an empty house."

"Why were they looking in an abandoned garden?"

"My parents had been missing for a few weeks, so they were searching for clues. I was the only one they found."

"So what happened? Didn't your family come get you?"

"No one claimed me. The Evans lived nearby and they offered to take me in."

Narcissa sighed, "That's so sad. Weren't you devastated when you found out?"

Lily shrugged, "I didn't find out until a couple of years ago. It was a shock, but I don't remember anything other then my life with the Evans. If my other family doesn't care about me enough to come and find me, then I don't want to see them," Lily said this last part with a trace of bitterness.

Bellatrix exchanged a look with Emmeline, "So, you can assume that at least one of your parents was magical."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Did the police ever find anything out about your parents?"

"No."

The group entered the classroom and sat down at a table near the front. Lily noticed that the houses were again divided between sides, although there was a lot more hostility then there was with the Hufflepuffs.

Lily leaned over and whispered to Bellatrix, "Why are they so mad?"

Bellatrix glanced at the Gryffindors and shrugged, "They're always pissed at us. They're probably a little pissed at you too, for sitting with us."

"That's so ridiculous!"

Bellatrix shrugged again.

Lily looked around as Molly and Alice came in. They looked at her strangely and Alice sat down at a back table. Molly came up to Lily.

"Lily, would you like to come sit with me and Alice?"

"No, thanks though. I think I'm going to sit here for now, at least until we get our new seats."

Molly glanced pointedly at the Slytherins and said, "Are you sure?"

Lily, who was beginning to get a little pissed off herself, said forcefully, "YES, I'm positive."

Molly looked at her for a second, and then turned and walked away.

Bellatrix snorted, "Oh, Prewett always did hate Slytherins. But we don't really like her much either."

"Why? She's a great person! What is with all this interhouse hostility?"

Bellatrix gave Lily a long look before responding, "Wake up Lily. It's not hostility between houses, it's hostility against Slytherin."

Lily gaped at Bellatrix, who ignored her.

A stocky woman walked briskly into the classroom and set her stuff on the table.

"Hello everyone! Good to see you again. I trust that you all had nice summer vacations? I'm sure that you've already heard about the assigned seats, so here we go. Nargott, Black. Vance, Black. Wait a sec, how many Blacks are there? Four, ok. Nargott, Regulus Black. Vance, Sirius Black. Lupin, Narcissa Black. Pettigrew, Malfoy. Potter, Bellatrix Black. Evans, Rosier. Who's Evans?"

Lily raised her hand, "I'm Lily Evans. I just moved here from the US."

"Right, I'm Dolly Trigit, head of Ravenclaw. Continuing, Prewett, Snape. Lestrange, you're by yourself. You're going to have to alternate working with different groups."

There was a bustle as everyone moved to their new seats.

Trigit set her hands down on her desk and surveyed the class, "Right, I know that you guys hate each other, but I don't want any of that in my class. Behave yourself and you won't get detention. Ok, today we're going to be making a Strengthing Solution. Not very hard, if you're paying attention. If it doesn't turn out right I'm going to assume that you were goofing off and points will be deducted. Get to work."

Lily turned to her seatmate, "That's not exactly fair!"

The delicate looking boy sitting next to her eyed her wairily, "Especially considering that everything she just said only applies to Slytherins."

"Why would she single out the Slytherins?"

"Because she's Ravenclaw Head of House."

Lily huffed, "You know, I think that you guys are a little paranoid. Why would everyone be out to get you?"

The boy turned to look at her, mildly amused, "You don't get out much do you?" he held out his hand, "Evan Rosier."

Lily shook her head, "Lily Evans. You did hear that I just moved here from the US, right?"

Evan closed his eyes and shook his head. too His thick, dark eyelashes stood out against his almost transparent skin. He opened his eyes again and Lily saw that they were dark, almost black.

"Am I that hot?"

Lily jumped, "N-no. I was looking at your eyelashes," she started to laugh as she realized how weird that sounded.

"What are you doing? You are such an idiot! Put that down!"

Everyone turned to look at Bellatrix and James. James had apparently been about to sabatoge the potion. Bellatrix looked about ready to tear his head off.

"Well, you weren't actually doing anything. Besides, what the hell do you know about Potions anyways?"

"Watch your language Potter. Black, 20 points from Slytherin. Don't shout in my classroom," Trigit had come up behind the pair.

Evan turned back to Lily and mouthed 'I told you so.'

Lily looked back at Bellatrix. She appeared to be shaking, but Lily realized why when she saw James's lips m ving and his eyes on Bellatrix's face. Bellatrix was probably trying to keep from gouging out his eyes. Lily frowned slightly and turned back to her potion. She found it fairly easy and let her mind wander a little.

The class mostly worked in silence for the rest of the period. Lily and Evan finished their potion pretty quickly and were told to sit at their desk without talking for the remaining time.

Lily looked around at the rest of the class and found herself wondering why everyone seemed to dislike Slytherins.

_'There has to be a reason.'_ she thought, _'People don't turn on each like this for no reason. I think.'_

She picked up her books glumly as class ended and started after Bellatrix, "Hey! Hey Bellatrix, wait up!"

Bellatrix turned on Lily as she came up and hissed at her, "Go hang out with your house, Evans. We don't want you here."

Lily stood in shock as she watched her walk away. She felt a hand on shoulder and turned to see Remus standing there, "Don't worry about it, Lily. They never spend much time with anyone not in their house anyways. They're cliche-y. No big loss. C'mon, I'll walk you to lunch."

Lily nodded mutely and followed him out of the room. Once they got to the luch room, she turned and looked for Bellatrix. She was sitting with Narcissa and Severus. Narcissa looked up at Lily and sneered.

Alice saw where she was looking, "Hey, just shrug it off. They act like that towards everyone. It's not a big deal."

"Yeah, I guess so. But what would make them turn on me like that?"

James shrugged, "Ehh, probably the fact that you're not pureblood."

Lily looked down and twisted her hands in her lap, _'Am I?'_


	5. Ancient Runes

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this out! I went on a really long vacation with my family and didn't have any computer access! Anyways, here it is and I hope you like it! Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

* * *

Lily got out of Defense Against the Dark Arts about 2 hours later. She had been paired with Frank Longbottom, a kid who seemed to be genuinely nice and was pretty popular. The teacher, Pontus Rovenforth, was laid back and didn't seem to expect too much, to Lily's great relief. DADA was never one of her best subjects.

She looked at her schedule again. She had Ancient Runes next, without most of her friends. It seemed to be a limited class. She had a hard time finding the classroom and barely made it on time. It looked, however, as if no one else had been able to find it easily either: there were only five other people in the class, and no sign of the teacher.

Lily looked around, but the only person she recognized was Severus Snape. She walked over timidly, wondering if he had heard about Bellatrix's snub, and what his take on the matter was. He didn't seem particularly hostile, so she set her books down next to his.

"Hi, Severus."

"Hey Lily. What's up?"

"Um.. not much. I wonder where the rest of the class is."

Severus looked around, and then shrugged, "There probably isn't any 'rest of the class'. People drop out every year, and no one new takes it on. Except for you, of course."

"Welcome back, everyone! I am pleased to see that so many of you have decided to continue, especially since we will begin to learn the very advanced material."

Lily turned to the front and was surprised to see the desk still empty. It took her a while to locate the owner of the voice, but finally saw the head of a wrinkled old woman sitting inside a cabinet. It saw her looking and winked.

Lily poked at Severus without taking her eyes off of the strange head, "Severus? What is a talking head doing inside that cabinet?"

Severus laughed, "That's the teacher. I forgot that you haven't had her before. Apparently she's the best around, and she requested the job, so Dumbledore gave it to her."

"Wha- how did she end up like that?"

Severus looked at her, "To preserve a head that well takes some deep Dark Arts. Only someone very powerful could have reincrnated her so thoroughly that she's still around 50 or so years later. The rumor is that she was preserved as a head simply for someone's amusement. She does have a rather biting sense of humor."

"I don't- how- why would someone agree to that?"

"Mmm, she didn't have to agree. You can raise up whoever you want, if you're powerful enough. It does take some energy, and a lot of time, to preserve someone permenantly, as she appears to have been. I personally don't think anyone, especially with that type of knowledge, would bother raising _her_ up, just for amusement value."

Lily turned to look again at the head, which continued to speak.

"I know that you all have assigned seats in your other classes, but there will be no such nonsense here. You can sit with whoever you'd like, whenever you'd like. I only ask that you don't switch seats once class has begun. You have already seemed to have seated yourself today, so I'll get started. As you've probably already noticed, we have someone new joining us this year. Since she doesn't know any of us, we are going to do some introductions. Shacklebolt, you first."

A tall black boy stood up on the other side of the room, "Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hufflepuff 6th year."

The boy sitting next to him stood and said in a wheezy voice, "Elphias Doge, Hufflepuff 7th year."

Lily stirred, "Why are there 6th and 7th years in this class?"

"Since this is an extra class, people can pick it up anytime 3rd year and on. This is the third class in the series. Only the 5th years in here started it in their 3rd year."

A girl with very long, light brown hair stood, "Dorcas Meadows, Gryffindor 6th year."

The black girl with a short afro next to her said, "Marlene McKinnon, Ravenclaw 5th year."

Severus didn't bother standing, "Severus Snape, Slytherin 5th year."

Lily was looking for it, or she wouldn't have caught some of the looks people were shooting at him, and at her. This, Lily realized, was because she had chosen to sit by him.

She stood up next and pushed her hair back over her shoulders, "Lily Evans, Gryffindor 5th year."

"Splendid, splendid. Now that we all know each other, let's open our books to p.7. These are the new runes that you will begin to learn now. I will give you fifteen minutes to start reviewing them. Use it or not, whatever you want."

Lily looked over the list of runes, some of which she knew, and some of which were completely unfamiliar.

"So, uh, I heard about Bellatrix."

Lily looked over at Severus, who was giving her a very shrewd glance. She muttered something under her breath.

Severus looked amused, "You shouldn't take it too hard, you know. It was poor judgment to put her with Potter. Almost as if someone wanted conflict. She always goes on a Gryffindor hate binge after clashing with him. She'll be over over by tomorrow, hopefully. Besides, we'll be getting class assignments soon, and I would be very surprised if you weren't on the list."

"Class assignments! I've already got my schedule."

Severus just smiled slightly

Lily rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to punch him violently in the arm. She contented herself with thinking evil thoughts about close-mouthed Slytherins who kept on dropping hints everywhere.

After a few minutes, Severus spoke up again, "You know, we have two hours of free time after this class. If you want, I'll introduce you to some other people you might like."

"I've got plenty of introductions this morning."

"I doubt you met anyone that I'm even on speaking terms with."

"Most likely not. They don't seem to care for your group very much."

"That's quite all right," said Severus cheerfully, "We don't care for them very much either. But seriously, c'mon with me. You'll have plenty of time to spend with them later, if you really want to."

"Of course I want to! They're my friends! But, I think I will hang out with you for a little. I don't think I could deal with Sirius and James right now."

Severus made a growling noise in his throat, but simply said, "Cool."


	6. Free Time

A/N: Lily's first free time... please read and review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created

* * *

When class got out, Lily waited for Severus. He stuffed his books in his bag and looked at her.

"Ready to go?"

"I think I'm going to stop by my room really quick and drop off my stuff. You can come, it won't take very long."

"Yeah, I'll just wait for you in the front hall. I might get killed if I tried to go anywhere near your common room."

"Oh, yeah. Ok, well, I'll see you in a couple of minutes."

She headed up to her room. Thankfully, she didn't run into anyone she knew. She had a feeling that they wouldn't be too understanding of her hanging out with Severus. She dropped her stuff on her bed and ran back down to the Great Hall. Severus wasn't there yet.

"Hey, Lily!"

She turned and saw Sirius and Remus coming towards her.

"Hey guys!"

"Glad we found you! We're getting some people together to play a game."

"What kind of game?"

"You'll just have to wait and find out," Sirius said with a wink.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I already have plans to hang out with someone else."

"Just bring them along! The more the merrier!"

"I don't think that he'd want to play your game, Sirius."

"Ooohh, it's a he? Who is it, Lily?"

"None of your business. Uh, Remus, are you ok?"

Remus had turned quite pale all of a sudden, his eyes on something behind Lily. Her and Sirius both turned and saw Severus coming across the hall towards them. Lily groaned inwardly. This wasn't going to be pretty.

Severus stopped next to her and nodded, completely ignoring Sirius and Remus. Sirius's eyes were narrowed and he looked ready to attack. Lily grabbed Severus's arm and started to walk quickly away.

"This is who you're hanging out with? Snivilly?" Sirius exploded behind them.

Lily sighed, gave Severus a look telling him to keep out of it, and turned back around.

"Yes, Sirius, this is who I'm hanging out with. He promised to introduce me to some more Slytherins."

"And you took him up on his offer? Are you insane? He's probably planning to look you up somewhere and do- do who knows what to you!"

Lily started laughing. Sirius had slowing been turning red, and this comment pushed her over the edge.

"Sirius, you're ridiculous. I'll see you later. Have a good time with your game."

Sirius started to splutter, but Remus grabbed his arm and whispered something in his ear. He waved at Lily.

"Bye, Lily. We'll see you later!"

Lily waved back and turned back to Severus, who had an odd expression on his face.

"I could be, you know."

"Could be what?"

"Planning on locking you up somewhere."

Lily started to laugh again, "Oh please. Not you too!"

"It's happened before," he said quietly.

"What has?" said Lily breathlessly.

Severus began walking again, "People have disappeared and no one ever hears from them again. It's hushed up, of course, that's not the sort of thing Dumbledore wants getting out. He wants everyone to think that Hogwarts is completely safe and nothing strange ever happens. The teachers know about everything that goes on. Ha. You should watch yourself though. I happen to have better things to do with my time, but there are people who might... wish to harm you. People from all houses, despite what Potter may have told you. Be careful who you wander off with. Even girls."

Lily stared at him, "Ever since I've gotten here, people haven't stopped giving me warnings. What is with this school?"

He shrugged.

Lily looked around. She had no idea where they were.

"Where are we going, anyways?"

"Room of Requirement. It's where we meet in the school."

"What's the Room of Requirement? And do you ever meet outside the school?"

"It's a room that will turn itself into whatever we need it to be. And yes, we meet outside the school (during the school year) all the time. Mostly for classes."

"There you go with the classes again. I take it that you're not talking about normal classes?"

"Nope."

"You're not going to tell me anything else, are you?"

"Nope."

Lily sighed, "You're so helpful."

"You'll probably find out soon enough anyways," he stopped in front of an empty stretch of wall, "Here we are."

Lily looked around, "Uh, Severus? Are you sure this is the right place?"

He simply pointed in back of her. She turned and saw a door in the wall behind that had most definitely not been there before.

He walked forwards and motioned for her to go in.

"Don't say anything until I introduce you," he whispered in her ear as she passed.

As she entered the room, everyone in it looked at her and stopped talking. They seemed to relax a bit when they saw Severus come in behind her. Lily saw Bellatrix in the corner looking at her with narrowed eyes.

Severus ignored everyone and walked her over to the Head Boy.

"Augustus, this is Lily Evans. You remember her from the train." It was a statement, not a question.

Augustus looked her over, and then nodded once. Conversations started up again in the room and Lily guessed that she had just been accepted temporarily into their group.

Severus led her over to a group of four that included Evan and Emmeline. They stopped talking when they saw Lily.

Severus sat down and pulled Lily down beside him.

"Hey guys, meet Lily Evans. Go ahead and introduce yourselves."

"Hey, Lily," Evan smiled at her.

Emmeline nodded, "We've met," she said to Severus.

A rather startling looking boy that Lily had noticed earlier in her Potions class held out his hand, "What's up? I'm Rabastan Lestrange." He had a large, dark purple mohawk that swayed slightly at the tips.

"Lily Evans, nice to meet you. Love your hair."

He laughed, "Glad to hear it. Yours is not so bad either."

Lily touched her hair gently.

"I'm Antonin Dolohov," said the boy with a long, pale, twisted face.

"He's the only 7th year Slytherin besides Augustus," said Rabastan.

"There aren't any girls?"

"Nah," said Severus, "The Slytherin house is very depleted. Everyone 5th year and up is here in this room."

Lily looked around. There weren't very many people, maybe a little less then 15.

Evan looked around too, "Let's see, there are three 5th year girls; Bellatrix, Emmeline, and Narcissa. Actually they are the oldest girls in the house. Then there are a lot of 5th year guys; me, Severus, Rabastan, Regulus, and Lucius. The two 6th years are Rodolphus and Walden, and then Augustus and Antonin are the only 7th years."

"Why so few?"

"After 5th year, most of the house is pulled out to move on to bigger and better things," said Rabastan, "Only the smartest get to continue school, like Antonin here," he bowed to Antonin, who waved his hand graciously.

Severus stood up, "Well, we've got to go meet some other people. We'll probably come back at some point, but Lily hasn't met a couple of people in that group over there," he waved vaguely behind him.

Lily followed him to Bellatrix's group. Narcissa, who was also there, gave Lily a small, twisted smile. The tall boy with long, white hair standing next to Narcissa glanced at Lily.

"Hello, I don't believe we've met. My name is Lucius Malfoy," he bowed lightly.

"I'm Lily Evans, nice to meet you."

"What house are you in?"

"Gryffindor."

Lucius raised his eyebrows delicately, "Well, it's been a very long time since we've had a Gryffindor at one of out meetings. You must be very special indeed."

Lily wasn't quite sure how to respond to a person that talked like someone from a Muggle fairytale. Fortunately another boy spared her the necessity by introducing himself.

"Hi Lily, I'm Rodolphus Lestrange."

"Nice to meet you," She noticed a scar running all the way down the right side of his face, but decided against asking about it.

She glanced at Bellatrix, who, to Lily's great relief, nodded.

Severus motioned towards the last boy, "And this is Regulus Black. Sirius's little brother."

"Sirius has a little brother?"

Regulus scowled at Severus, "I could have introduced myself, you know."

Lily looked carefully at him. He had light hair and black eyes. He didn't look anything like Sirius.

"I would never have guessed that you're Sirius's brother! You don't like him."

Rodolphus snorted, "He works at that. That isn't his natural hair or eye color. He spends way too much time on his appearance."

Regulus sneered at Rodolphus," If you had an older brother like Sirius, you would do your best to distance yourself from him too."

Lily thought he had a fair point. She could imagine how Sirius would react to a younger brother being sorted into Slytherin.

"Wait, there are a lot of Blacks. Are you all brothers and sisters?"

Bellatrix laughed, "That'd be awkward. Nah, we're just cousins. Regulus and Sirius are brothers. Me and Narcissa are sisters, and we actually have another sister in Ravenclaw. Her name's Andromeda. We don't talk to her very much. Or rather, she doesn't talk to us very much."

Lily thought for a little, "I don't remember another Black. Is she in 5th year?"

"No, 6th year. We're all a year apart. Narcissa is actually a year younger then me, but was pushed into school early by my parents' request. They had business and couldn't take her with them"

"Dumbledore let her come in early?"

Bellatrix shrugged, but Narcissa spoke up, "That was the only way my parents would let me come, or at least that's what they said, and Dumbledore is really big on every child getting a proper education or some crap like that."

"Now, I don't agree with everything Dumbledore does, but that made sense. What does one year's difference make, really?" Rabastan said, rubbing his head next to the mohawk.

"Is your hair stiff?' Lily asked suddenly. She was fascinated by Rabastan's hair and the way it was constantly swaying, but still stood up straight.

"Nah, go ahead and feel it. I charm it up. That gunk you can put in your hair turns flaky and crunchy. Not exactly what I want on my head."

Lily reached out and ran her hand over the top of his mohawk. The soft hair bent quite easily under her hand and then returned back to its upright position.

"That's so cool! Do you think you could show me how to do that sometime?"

Rabastan shrugged, "Sure. Maybe sometime this weekend."

Severus coughed slightly, "Right, well, we still have one more person to meet: Walden."

"Have fun with that," said Bellatrix.

Lily found herself being led forcefully over to where Augustus was talking to a tall, muscular boy with darkly tanned skin. They stopped as Severus and Lily came up.

"Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but Lily hasn't met Walden yet."

"That's quite all right. We were just finishing," Augustus smiled, and turned to the other boy, "I'll see you later Walden."

Walden watched Augustus leave with no expression on his face, then turned to Lily.

"Lily, how nice to meet you. My name is Walden Macnair. I've been anticipating meeting you."

"You have?"

"Yes, you have?" Severus looked at Walden with a slight frown.

"Of course. Lily's a new Gryffindor with powerful friends in Slytherin. A rather unusual combination, don't you think?" he turned back to Lily, "You may have noticed, but we don't get along with Gryffindors very well."

"You don't seem to get along with anyone else very well."

Walden laughed, "That's not quite fair, Lily. Everyone else doesn't get along with us. Gryffindor is the only house that we are antagonistic towards. Not unfairly either. You may not have noticed, but they don't exactly go out of their way to make life pleasant for us."

Lily smiled, "Especially James and Sirius."

A very ugly look appeared on Walden's face suddenly, "It would give me great pleasure to have those two at my disposal for a couple of hours. I could finally break in that set I got from my uncle last Christmas."

The hairs on the back of Lily's neck and arms were all standing up. She realized that Walden was not the sort of person you wanted to be left alone with, unless you were sure he was on your side.

"Yeah, well, we're all best buds with those two. Don't want to take up too much of your time, Walden, just wanted Lily to meet you."

Walden's face cleared up and he smiled beautifully, "I'm very glad you brought her. Lily, fantastic to meet you. Hopefully we'll get a chance to talk more soon. Maybe this Saturday?"

Lily smiled back, and turned to Severus once he had left, "What's Saturday?"

"Class assignments."

Lily threw up her hands, "Classes again!"

Severus just smiled.

She looked around, "So, is this actually a meeting, or what?"

"Nah, just a place where we can get together and hang out, without being disturbed by others."

"Couldn't you just go to your common room?"

"Younger students."

"Ah."

"Hey Severus and Lily! Stop flirting and come play some cards with us!" Bellatrix yelled from across the room, where most of the students had gathered into a large circle.

Lily laughed and caught Severus's eye, "Cards?"

"Why not?"


	7. Pillowfight

A/N: Wow, I'm just rolling them out today! Hope you like it! Please, please, please review! I've only gotten one so far!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created

* * *

Lily found herself snubbed at the Gryffindor table during dinner. Everyone except for James, Alice, and Remus were ignoring her. James wouldn't talk to her, but kept on throwing her sorrowful glances as if she had betrayed him to his enemy.

Remus and Alice were carrying on completely normal conversations with her, which she deeply appreciated. Lily caught Severus's eye a couple of times from across the room, but he never did more then smile slightly and look away.

"What do you have next, Lily?" Remus's voice broke into her thoughts.

She dived under the table for her schedule, "Um... nothing! I have it off! What about you?"

"Off! What about you, Alice?"

She shook her head regretfully, "I have Muggle Studies."

"Ah well. Maybe there are some other people," Remus sighed.

"People that feel like hanging out with me?" Lily asked.

Alice laughed, "Lily, just throw something at their heads so they can attack you and then it'll be over it in five minutes."

"I have a funny feeling Molly wouldn't go for that."

"No, you're right. I was thinking more of James and Sirius. Once you're all right with them again, you're all right with almost everyone else. Although, not Molly. She can hold a grudge for a long time."

"Arthur might have next off. And he probably won't have a huge problem with you talking to Slytherins. Although, I don't know," Remus was thinking aloud.

"We'll figure it out. Maybe I will just throw a pillow at them. It might make me feel better, " Lily laughed.

After dinner, her and Remus said goodbye to Alice and walked up to the common room. Once inside, Lily collapsed on a couch and groaned.

Remus sat down next to her, "Long day, huh?"

Lily put her hands over her face, "You have no idea! Or maybe you do," she looked at him between her fingers, "Do you feel dead?"

Sirius and James tumbled over each other into the room laughing. They stopped when they saw Lily. Sirius ignored her and James looked at her sadly.

Lily rolled her eyes internally. Ok, time to take Alice's suggestion. James and Sirius were halfway across the room when a pillow hit Sirius in the back of the head, and then another hit James.

"What th-" James turned around and was promptly hit in the face with another pillow.

Lily put her hands on her hips and stuck out her tongue.

James looked as if he couldn't decide whether to laugh or be offended. Sirius, however, had no trouble making up his mind. He launched himself across the room, grabbing a couple of pillows as he went. He ran into Lily, pillows flying in all directions, and knocked her onto the couch.

Remus jumped up, looking scandalized, but pulled Sirius off Lily before he squashed her.

Lily, far from being squashed, was laughing hysterically.

"You should have seen your face!"

James walked over, picked up a pillow calmly and walloped her across the face.

"Hey! What was that for?" Lily shrieked.

He shrugged and sat down. Sirius remained sprawled on the floor where Remus had thrown him. He lifted his head up and frowned at Lily.

"Lily, don't you know that we're mad at you?"

"Yes, and I was getting tired of it. So I threw a pillow at you."

James snorted.

"And you," she said, turning to him, "You keep on giving me these looks, like a sad puppy. I figured you needed to be cheered up."

Sirius laughed, "Ok, point taken. But you did choose to spend two hours with Slytherins."

"Yeah, and I met some cool people. What's your point?"

James blew out his breath between his teeth, "I might have been ok, if not happy with it, if you hadn't been doing it with Snivilly!"

"You mean Severus?"

"Oh no," Sirius said, and began to hack, holding his neck like he was choking. Lily might have been worried if he hadn't then rolled over and pretended to throw up, complete with sound effects.

Remus kicked him lightly in the side, "Oh, get up. You two are ridiculous. She can hang out with whoever she wants to. It's not like she's asking you to do it with her."

Sirius stopped his gagging and considered, "I might chill a little if she never says that again in front of me."

Lily exchanged puzzled looks with Remus. James was fighting off laughter.

"Um, say what?"

"That name!"

"What, Severus?"

Sirius promptly rolled over and began hacking again. James lost it and started howling. Even Remus was laughing.

Lily started throwing pillows at them again, "That does happen to be his name. What do you want me to call him?"

James stopped laughing, "Snivilly?"

Lily mimicked Sirius's noises.

"Guess not. How about Snape?"

Lily considered.

"Only in front of us," Sirius put in, "You can call him whatever you want when we're not around. Like Snookums, or Snapey-poo," he started snorting.

James looked horrified, "Please don't ever call him that or I might actually start throwing up."

"Fine," said Lily, "I'll call him Snape around you two, _unless_," and here she held up a finger, "I'm talking with him."

Sirius started to protest, but Remus cut him off, "You can't ask for much more then that."

"Ok, fine," Sirius sat up.

Lily began picking up the pillows and putting them back in their rightful spots.

"C'mon you guys. Help me clean up."

"Whatever for?" James protested, "They look nice strewn about."

"Class ends in about five minutes. Other people will be coming in and then we'll have to go to Herbology."

Remus groaned, "I hate this new schedule! We don't get out until 10:30! That's crazy!"

"No one's arguing with you, mate," said Sirius, thumping him sympathetically on the back.

People began to trickle in from their classes. Alice came in pretty quickly and found Lily. She noted that James and Sirius seemed to be on speaking terms with her and smiled.

"Did you try my idea?"

Lily nodded, "It worked."

James looked between them, "What idea?"

"Nothing," Lily smiled serenely.

Alice looked at her watch, "Ok, you guys, we should probably start heading down to the greenhouses."

Everyone but Sirius stood up. He looked up beseechingly at her. She sighed and held out her hand to help him up. He took it and shook vigorously.

"Sirius Black, nice to meet you!" he smiled charmingly, then got up and walked out with James.

Lily shook her head and followed with Alice and Remus.

When Lily collapsed on her bed that night she was exhausted. Molly and Alice hadn't come in yet and were still socializing downstairs. She rolled over and looked at the empty bed, which still showed no sign of habitation.

_"I wonder who the other girl is. I don't remember anyone else from Gryffindor in our classes. I'll have to ask Molly and Alice about it."_

Then she remembered that Molly wasn't talking to her.

_"Well, maybe just Alice then."_

She started drifting off sleepily.

_"I have to remember to ask Severus about those classes. I wonder what they are?"_ she thought, as she lost consciousness.

She faintly remembered Molly and Alice coming in a little later and having a whispered argument. She thought about waking herself up enough to ask about that girl, but decided to just wait until morning.

When Lily woke up the next morning, she woke up violently and sat up. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and saw that Molly and Alice were still sleeping. The strange girl was already gone.

Curious, Lily walked over to her bed and looked at it. It appeared unslept in.

_"Maybe she already made it."_

But something about the way the pillows were deflated, and the way the sheets hung, made her reach down and run a finger across the pillowcase.

When she looked at her fingertip, it was covered in a thick layer of dust.


	8. In Your Dreams

A/N: Important chapter! Conflict, mystery, flirting! What more could you want?

Please review! Let me know what you think!

dadswell- glad you like it! Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

* * *

Lily gently rubbed her fingers together and watched the dust fly into the air. She stared at the dust motes and then turned and ran to Alice's bed.

"Alice! Alice, wake up!" she shook her violently.

Alice started flailing wildly in her covers. She quickly became tangled up and started to yell for help.

"Hold still and I'll get you out of this," Lily gently unwound the covers and pulled them to the foot of the bed.

Alice sat up, "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Why did you wake me up?" Alice rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Lily started to pull her out of bed, "Come here! You have to see this! You know the other girl who sleeps in here?"

Alice nodded as she stumbled after her.

"Well, I noticed yesterday that she wasn't in any of our classes with us. Isn't that a little strange?"

"I dunno. Me and Molly always figured that she was either really stupid or really smart and had to take special classes," Alice shrugged, "I don't think it's a big deal, Lily."

"Yeah, but she doesn't sleep!"

"What?"

"Well, I mean, I looked at her bed this morning and it's covered with dust! Look!" she pointed down at the bed.

Alice reached down slowly and wiped her fingers across the blanket. When she picked them up they had a fine dust covering.

"See? She can't have slept in her bed for a while!"

Alice shook her head slowly, "Dust doesn't settle the same on cloth as it does on furniture. This has to have been untouched for a long time."

"So what's with this girl?"

"I think we should ask Professor Dumbledore about that."

Lily nodded, "Ok, let's get dressed and go see him."

Alice groaned, "Now? It's not even 6 o'clock yet!"

"This is important! C'mon!"

"Ok, ok. Give me five minutes."

Lily pulled on some clothes and waited impatiently for Alice to do the same. When they were both ready, they hurried out and down the hallway.

"Wait," Lily slowed down, "I have no idea where Dumbledore's office is."

"I do. I'm a prefect." Alice walked down the twisting passageways and stopped in front of a statue of a gargoyle.

"Oh. I don't know what the password is."

Lily stared at the statue, willing it to let them through. To her surprise, it jumped aside and revealed a staircase leading upwards. She looked at Alice, who shrugged.

"Maybe he's expecting us."

They stepped onto the staircase and were carried upwards to a large door. Lily knocked.

"Come in"

They stepped inside and saw Dumbledore sitting at his desk, watching them carefully.

"Please, sit down," he gestured towards some chairs in front of him. They sat.

"Sir, I have a question about the other girl who dorms with me, Alice, and Molly. You see, she isn't in any of our classes, and I don't think she sleeps in her bed at night. It's dusty."

"Hmm," Dumbledore placed his fingers together carefully and looked at them, "That is easily explainable."

"It is?" Lily glanced at Alice.

"Yes, you see, there is no other girl in the room with you."

"What? Sir?"

"There hasn't been a fourth girl staying in that room for over twenty years."

"But, sir," said Alice, "That's impossible!"

"How so?"

"Well, you see, she... uh, I-"

"Because I saw her," Lily broke in, "The first night I was here. I woke up and saw her come in. She was tall, with very long, dark hair. I saw her!"

A thoughtful expression came over Dumbledore's face for a second, but then, "I'm sorry girls, but there is no other girl in that room. You were probably just dreaming the other night. It happens to me all the time! Why, just the other morning I woke up convinced that I had sprouted wings during the night! Quite understandable, but nothing to worry about."

Lily started to protest, but Alice interrupted her.

"Yes, sir, we understand. Sorry to have bothered you."

"Oh, it was no problem. Come back anytime you need to talk."

Alice dragged Lily out of the room and down the stairs back to the hallway.

"Lily, there's nothing else we could have talked to him about. He's convinced that we were just tired."

"But I wasn't! I know that I saw a real girl! You've seen her too, haven't you?" said Lily desperately.

Alice looked uncomfortable, "Well, no. Molly said she met her during first year. Maybe she really doesn't exist."

"I know she does!"

Alice shrugged.

"You know what, Lily? I don't really care. If she does exist, she hasn't affected our life at all. It doesn't matter if she's real or not. Besides, Dumbledore said she isn't, and that's good enough for me."

Lily stared at her and shook her head, "Aren't you curious?"

"Not at all. Now let's go eat breakfast, I'm hungry," she walked off towards the Great Hall.

Lily followed her, and decided to put the girl out of her mind for a little. She'd have plenty of time to investigate later.

When they got to the Great Hall, they found everyone sitting at the table already.

James looked over as they walked up, "Hey, where have you guys been?"

"We had an errand to run," Lily said as she walked over and sat next to him.

"And it's none of your business," said Alice as she sat down next to Lily.

"Fine, don't tell me."

"We won't."

Sirius leaned across James and poked Lily in the arm.

"Do you know what we have next?"

Lily swallowed her bite of roll hastily, "No."

"Divination. The class from hell," Sirius grimaced.

"It can't be that bad."

"It is," said James, "I sweat like mad in that room."

"Besides," said Sirius, "The teacher hates us."

Alice snorted, "I would hate you too! You guys don't even pretend to behave in that class!"

James looked highly affronted, "We do too behave! Just not exactly the way she wants us to!"

Peter cackled from across the table.

Sirius looked at him, "Peter, that was a very girly laugh. Please don't do that again, it scares me."

Lily grinned behind her hand. She felt a little bad for Peter. No one paid him any attention except for Remus, James, and Sirius, and they mostly just poked fun at him.

Molly, who had been pointedly ignoring Lily this whole time, said, "Yeah, Sirius, and you don't ever act girly."

He pouted at her. James chortled.

Lily tugged on Sirius's sleeve, "So, what's so bad about Divination, besides the teacher? I think it sounds pretty cool."

"Well, it might be, if you could actually could See something."

"James and Sirius are most definitely not Seers," Alice said in Lily's ear.

"That's not our fault!" protested James, "The teacher's insane!"

"But she is a Seer. Not even you can deny that, James. She's famous for it."

James muttered something under his breath.

Lily laughed and stood up, "Ok, let's go. I don't want to be late to this class. Sounds like fun. Who do we have it with?"

"No one," sighed Sirius, "Just us Gryffindors."

"Is that so bad?"

"He's just upset that there won't be anyone else in that class that he can blame stuff on," Alice said slyly.

"That's not true!" protested Sirius, "I miss all the girls!"

James started laughing.

"Well, I guess that could be part of it too," smiled Alice.

"Seriously, though, let's go," Lily started walking slowly towards the entrance.

"Wait up!" James grabbed his stuff and ran after her.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye as he skidded to a stop next to her and rearranged his stuff. He really was good looking, with his ruffled hair and cute hazel eyes.

_"Too bad he's not my type,"_ she thought and sighed.

"What?" said James.

"What what?"

"You sighed."

Lily blushed, "Oh, I was just thinking."

"You gotta watch out for that. Do too much and your brain will turn to mush. Then it will start to leak out of your ears, and, you know, girls don't like gushy stuff on their clothes," he said seriously.

"You are so weird."

"Thank you. May I take that as a complement?"

"In your dreams, Potter."

Lily looked up and saw Severus walking by with Bellatrix.

James stiffened and started to hiss. Lily gave him a startled look.

"Lily's too nice of a person to complement you in good faith. It just wouldn't be nice to lie to you like that."

Lily was a little confused by this. Severus had just complemented her and insulted James in the same sentence.

"Bugger off."

James pushed past them. Lily followed, giving Severus a look as she went by. Did he have to go out of his way to antagonize her friends?

She caught up with James and touched his shoulder. He rounded on her, but relaxed when he saw who it was.

"Sorry."

"Don't be! I think you handled yourself very well!"

He shrugged, "That was nothing. I think they were holding back because you were there."

Lily frowned, but didn't say anything.

They walked for a little in silence, but then James spoke up again.

"I just don't get what you see in them. Especially Snape."

"They're really nice when you and Sirius aren't around."

"Well, that's encouraging. I'll just have to get to know them without actually spending any time with them."

Lily laughed, "I guess that'd be kind of hard."

"Since the school year's just started, I'm hoping that you'll realize exactly who you're hanging out with and come to your senses."

"And who exactly am I hanging out with?" said Lily frostily.

"Don't get pissed! Its just that... some of the things Slytherins do in their spare time..."

"You mean some of the things that you've heard they do in their spare time? I spent two hours of spare time with them yesterday, James. Do you know what we did? Play cards."

"They wouldn't want to scare you off too quickly."

"You know what? I am already tired of hearing you gripe all the time about people you barely know!"

"Thank goodness for that," he muttered.

Lily stopped walking, "If you're trying to get me to stop hanging out with you, you're doing a very good job."

"No, I'm just trying to get you to stop hanging out with them. You've got me, what more could you want?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know, I'm handsome, funny, smart, athletic... what more could you want? We're perfect for each other."

Lily stared at him incredulously, "In the words of Severus, 'In your dreams, Potter'!"

Fuming. she turned and walked away.


	9. Fabian Prewett

A/N: Here's another one! I'm on a roll... maybe I'll get another one out today

Read and Review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created

* * *

Lily arrived at Divination before anyone else, so she had some time to cool off. She sat on the floor and put her head between her knees. James really pissed her off. First he insulted her friends and then he tried to hit on her!

She let out a slow breath and shook her head.

"Lily! What are you doing here? I thought you were with James."

The rest of the Gryffindors, without James, had finally arrived.

"We got separated."

Alice gave her a long look and Lily knew she guessed part of what had happened.

"Well, he'd better hurry up or he's going to be late," Sirius held the door open for the classroom, "Ladies first. That means you too Peter."

"Leave him alone Sirius! Is your self-confidence really so low that you have to put him down all the time?" Lily exploded.

Sirius looked at her in shock.

"He just sits here and takes all this crap from you guys and doesn't do anything! He's more of a man then you are!"

Peter looked slightly abashed at this unlooked for defense. Molly was looking at a point to the left of Lily's head and Lily could have sworn that she was fighting back a smile. Feeling frustrated and a little shamed, Lily went into the classroom and sat on a squishy chair in the back.

Wait, squishy chair? What kind of a classroom was this? Lily looked around at the dimly lit room. There were drapes everywhere and Lily was sure that she could smell incense.

Everyone else came in behind her and sat down. James still hadn't arrived.

Lily looked back towards the front as a very tall woman with gauzy robes came into the room. She sat in her chair at the front of the room and looked around.

"Today, we will be interpreting dreams. Please take a few moments to write your latest dream down on a slip of paper. Do not write your name, I want these to be anonymous. When you're done, give me the slip," she frowned as James finally came into the room.

"Sorry Professor! I was-"

"Yes, I know what you were doing. Please sit down. One of your classmates can tell you what we're doing."

Lily, who had looked away when James came in, stood up and walked towards the teacher.

"Excuse me, I'm new. I haven't taken any Divination before, so I don't know anything about interpreting dreams."

"Lily Evans? That's fine; we are just beginning to learn this. However, you are the odd number and we have prearranged partners. So, I think you'll mostly be working with me. We will have to start from the beginning. You haven't had any Divination?"

"None."

"Ah well, many schools have decided that it is not worth teaching. There are so few Seers left. It's hard to get a competent teacher. Most Seers do not wish to spend their time teacher. I, however, felt that it is important to cultivate young Seers. Without proper training, they wouldn't amount to anything. Of course, this group has been a waste of my time. Especially those two," she bent a stern glance towards James and Sirius, who were whispering to each other and laughing while they wrote something down.

She turned back to Lily, "Please forgive me, I didn't mean to ramble. My name is Cassandra Vablatsky. Please come over here and we will begin with tea leaves."

Lily was beginning to wonder if James and Sirius were right about this class. Tea leaves!

By the time free time came around, Lily was thinking that she might just want to take a nap.

_"Wait, I have Charms Club today!"_

She sighed. Hopefully it would be more interesting then the rest of the day. She dragged herself over to the Charms class room.

When she got there, she was pleased to see Amelia, who waved at her and came over to say hi.

"Lily! How are your classes going? I'm so glad that you're going to be in Charms Club!"

"Well, I'm just try-"

"I've been so busy these first few days trying to organize all sorts of stuff. And of course the Head Boy is no help. He's a Slytherin. I hope you took my advice and stayed away from them."

"Actually-"

"You really need to be careful about who you hang out with Lily. I'm glad you were put in Gryffindor. Your roommate, Molly Prewett, she's a great gal. I'm sure she's taken you under her wing. You stick with her, Lily, and your life will be a lot easier. Actually, one of Molly's older brothers is here! You have to meet him!"

Lily found herself steered over to a muscular boy with short, curly, auburn hair.

"Fabian! I'd like you to meet Lily Evans! She just moved here from the US. She's Molly's roommate! Isn't that fantastic? Well, I'll leave you two to talk, I have some other stuff I need to do," and she left, leaving Lily feeling slightly dizzy.

Fabian grimaced after her, and then turned back to Lily, "Fabian Prewett, nice to meet you."

"Same here."

"So I see you know Amelia."

"Yes, she's, uh, she's very enthusiastic."

Fabian laughed, "Well that's one way to put it. So you're Gryffindor, huh? I used to be the only one. Next year you're going to be by yourself, if you continue."

"You're 7th year?"

"Yep, and Quidditch team captain. Say, are you any good? We're looking for a new Beater."

"I play every once in a while."

"You should come tryout. This Friday during free time."

"I might. So, what do you guys do at these meetings?"

"Depends. Last year's Head Girl was constantly planning things and we went on little excursions and stuff. It was pretty fun. This year? I don't know. Amelia's social, but not motivated enough to put anything together. We might end up sitting here and talking every meeting."

"I don't know if I'm going to stick around. There are other things that I could be doing."

"Yeah, you have OWLS this year, don't you? Those are pretty nasty. Have fun."

"Mmmm, thanks. I won't."

Fabian looked around, "This doesn't look too promising. Do you want to go take a walk?"

"Yeah."

Lily followed him out of the room and down the stairs.

"Fabian! What are you doing? Shouldn't you be in Charms Club?" Molly came out of a corridor next to them.

"Yeah, but we decided to take a walk," he said motioning to Lily.

Molly looked around him, saw Lily, and snapped her head back.

"You want to come with us?"

"No thank you," she said stiffly and walked off again.

Fabian stared after her for a second.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's mad at me."

"At you? Whatever for?"

"I spent yesterday's free time with some Slytherins and everybody freaked out for a little. Molly freaked out for a while."

Fabian rolled his eyes, "People need to get over this whole Slytherin thing."

Lily was amazed, "Yes! Thank you! Finally another non-Slytherin who doesn't think that Slytherins are evil!"

"I never said Slytherins weren't evil, I just think they shouldn't be treated like scum. Even if they are."

Lily sighed, "Well, I guess that's the best I'm going to get from anyone."

Fabian considered, "Yeah, probably," he looked around, "Where do you want to go?"

"Let's walk around the lake."

They skirted the lake and chatted about school and life. Lily was curious about Hogsmeade, and Fabian was more then willing to give her details.

When they got back to the front of the school, they stopped for a little.

"Thanks for going on this walk with me," Lily said.

"No problem! It got me away from Amelia for a while," he wiped fake sweat off his forehead.

Lily laughed, "We should probably go in for dinner."

"Good idea, I'm starving!"

They entered the Great Hall and Fabian said goodbye to go sit with some of his friends. Lily turned aside and sat with Alice. She glanced at James, but he avoided her glance.

Great, now he wasn't speaking to her either. Lily shrugged it off and talked to Alice and Peter instead, with Sirius adding his input every once in a while. Remus wasn't anywhere to be seen.

The rest of Lily's night passed by uneventfully. When she finally got up to her room, she looked at the girl's bed again. Nothing had changed. She pulled the blanket back to find dead bugs littering the sheets.

She jumped back and rubbed her dirty hands on her jeans. There was no way that anyone had been in that bed for a very long time.

_"Maybe it was just a dream."_


	10. Extra Classes

A/N:Those classes are explained in this chapter! It's a big development in Lily's schooling.

Hope you enjoy!

Don't forget to review!

teengurl110 - So glad you like it! I will definately keep on writing it, I have so many ideas and plans in my head!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created

* * *

The rest of Lily's week went very well. Molly still wasn't talking to her, but James was back on speaking terms, even if he weren't quite as friendly as he had been. Lily had officially decided to not participate in Charms Club. Fabian had let her know that he was quitting, so she didn't see any point in staying.

She hadn't really talked very much to any of the Slytherins, except for interactions in class. James and Sirius were delighted to note that she was spending her free time with them. Even though this was only because she hadn't been invited to any of their meetings again, and her pride prevented her from asking.

Today was tryout day. Fabian had stopped her in the common room almost every night to remind her about them. The entire team would be there to help choose, including Sirius and James, who were apparently fantastic Chasers.

She had been worrying about it a little, even though she kept on reminding herself that she was only trying out as a favor for Fabian. The day went by very fast, and before she knew it, Care of Magical Creatures was over and it was time to go get ready.

She walked out of class with her stomach twisted in knots and tried to think about something else. A distraction came in the form of Severus almost knocking her over from behind.

"I knew you'd make it!" he whispered fiercely in her ear, earning himself murderous glares from Sirius and James.

"Go ahead on without me," she waved at the others, and then looked back at Severus, "What do you mean?"

"You've been accepted for classes! It's a pretty rare thing for non-Slytherins to get it. This year we have five of you, which is very unusual, but you made it!" he finished breathlessly.

"Whoa, slow down. You've got to explain this to me. What are these classes?"

"Can't tell you that. You have to wait until the meeting tomorrow."

She sighed, "When's the meeting?"

"After breakfast. Meet me in the Great Hall. Gotta go, see you tomorrow."

Lily thought about the classes and what they actually were on her way up to the castle. Some Slytherin thing, obviously. But what, she had no idea. She'd have to wait until the meeting.

She arrived at the Quidditch pitch on time. There appeared to only be three other people trying out. Maybe she'd have a better chance at this then she thought she would.

She flew ok during the tryout, and managed to almost knock James off of his broom with a Bludger, which made her feel surprisingly better. The other people flew better then she did, but couldn't hit the Bludger nearly as well.

When Fabian blew the whistle to end the tryout, she was feeling pretty good about herself. She glanced at Sirius and James and saw that they looked a little worried. She couldn't decide if that was good or bad for her.

The team went into a huddle while Lily and the others sat around avoiding each other's glance. The team finally broke apart and came back. Fabian nodded at them and cleared his throat.

"Alright, well, all of you were pretty good, but there was one person who stood out. Lily Evans, congratulations. You're the new Beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

Lily was attacked by Sirius and James, who had apparently forgotten all hard feelings. They pounded her on the back and mussed up her hair. She laughed and pounded them back.

Fabian came up and pulled them off of her.

"Ok Lily, c'mon and meet the team. Me, James, and Sirius are the Chasers. My brother, Gideon, is the Keeper. Arthur Weasley is the Seeker, and Dorcas Meadows is the other Beater."

Sirius started to laugh, "We only have two girls on the team and they're both Beaters!"

Lily exchanged a look with Dorcas.

"Yes, well," said Fabian, "Our first practice is next Monday during free time. Don't be late!"

Lily walked back to the castle with James and Sirius.

"Hey, why don't you come practice with us tomorrow, Lily?" said James suddenly.

Sirius jumped on the idea, "Yeah! Give us some practice dodging Bludgers!"

Lily held up her hands, "Sorry guys, I can't! I already have plans."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Well, we don't want to know then," said James resolutely. Lily thought he knew perfectly well that she was doing something with Slytherins, but didn't want to get in another argument. She appreciated the thought.

Lily hurried through breakfast the next morning, mentally if not physically. She had to wait until breakfast was over to meet Severus, but she was pushing time along as fast as she could in her mind.

When she was done eating, she went upstairs, looked around, and then came back down again to the Great Hall. She had to wait almost twenty minutes before she saw Severus.

He laughed, "Are we anticipating anything?"

"I'll admit, I'm a little curious."

"Ok, let's go then," he started walking the same way they had the other day.

"Are we going to the Room of Requirement again?"

He nodded.

"Is that where the classes are held?'

"No, this is just an introductory meeting. Class locations and time will be discussed. Just be patient."

She sighed, "All right."

When they got to the room, Lily noted instantly who the other non-Slytherins were. Dorcas Meadows and Peter Pettigrew were there, looking extremely uncomfortable. Lily also saw her seatmate from Transfiguration, Amos Diggory, and a 6th year Ravenclaw from her Astronomy class, Hestia Jones.

"Is there anyone below 5th year here?" she whispered in Severus's ear.

"No, classes are only open to fifth years and above. This is my first year."

Conversation died off as Augustus stood up in the front of the room and cleared his throat.

"All of you were chosen to take these classes because you have some special qualities. Someone noticed these qualities and decided that you should have the opportunity to do this. So here you are. What are these classes?" he started to pace the floor, "These classes teach you something that is neither Ministry or Dumbledore approved. Something that would be very useful to you in your future life. There are four areas of study. Each of you have been assigned to a specific area of study. If you do not wish to study this, you can leave. You may not change your area. Here are your assignments: Walden Macnair, Rabastan Lestrange, Lily Evans, and Amos Diggory will be studying Necromancy."

Lily stirred and started to say something to Severus, but he shushed her.

"Evan Rosier, Peter Pettigrew, Lucius Malfoy, and Emmeline Vance will be studying Demonology. Regulus Black, Bellatrix Black, Dorcas Meadows, and I will be studying Sorcery. Severus Snape, Hestia Jones, Narcissa Black, and Rodolphus Lestrange will be studying Potions. Any questions?"

Lily raised her hand, "Who will be teaching the classes?"

"That information is on your class list. Each of you will get a list of classes you are required to take. There is also a book of course descriptions up here. Certain courses are marked as open to everyone. If you wish, you can sign up for any of these courses that are not on your required list," he began to pass out the lists, "Classes start Monday night. Meet at 11 o'clock. Those of you who are not Slytherins will be contacted about the meeting place. Each of you have also been assigned to a work group. These assignments are posted up here. I will be here for a while longer if you have any questions."

Lily took her class list and looked at it.

**_Lily Evans - Necromancy_**

_Comparative Necromantic Research (taught by Sinistra)_

_Ethical Summoning (taught by Cassandra Vablatsky)_

_Common Necromancy (taught by Dark Lord)_

_Future High Necromancy (taught by Dark Lord)_

_Inter-Planar Necromancy (taught by Dark Lord)_

_Modern Summoning Enchantments (taught by Cassandra Vablatsky)_

Lily looked at Severus, who was looking over his list with a slight frown.

"There are normal teachers teaching this stuff?"

He looked up, "Some of them. They aren't all completely loyal to Dumbledore."

"Can I see your list?"

"Sure, let's switch."

Lily took Severus's list and looked at it.

**_Severus Snape - Potions_**

_High-Energy Potions (taught by Dolly Trigit)_

_Advanced Common Potions (taught by Dolly Trigit)_

_Theoretical Potions (taught by Bloody Baron)_

_Indefinite Potions (taught by Dolly Trigit)_

_Philosophy of Amazonic Potions (taught by Bloody Baron)_

_Contemporary Potions Research (taught by Sinistra)_

"You're getting taught by the Dark Lord?" Severus said in awed voice.

"Yeah. Who is it?"

Severus got an odd closed expression, "I guess you'll find out soon enough."

Lily gave him a funny look, "Ok... well, let's go look at work groups and those other classes that were open to everyone."

She went to look at the posted lists and quickly found her name.

_Supervisor - Bloody Baron_

_Lily Evans_

_Evan Rosier_

_Bellatrix Black_

_Severus Snape_

"Hey Severus! We're together!" she gave him a thumbs up and then went to look at the class descriptions. Amos Diggory came up besides her.

"Lily, are you actually thinking of doing this?" he whispered to her.

"Yeah, why not?"

"Don't you know what this is?"

"Um.. a chance to learn some cool stuff?"

"It's a recruiting meeting, Lily. Look at these classes. This is the Dark Arts!"

"It might be," she said slowly.

"And you're still thinking of doing it? Are you insane? Do you know what you could get dragged into?"

"I'm at least going to give it a chance. Did it ever occur to you that Dumbledore might be wrong about this sort of stuff?"

Amos looked at her in disbelief.

She sighed, "You're not going to tell Dumbledore about this, are you?"

"Are you kidding? I want to stay alive for a little longer."

Lily picked up the course descriptions. Amos watched her for a little.

"Lily, be careful. Be aware of what's going on around you."

"Thanks Amos, I was planning on walking around with my eyes shut," she said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean. Just... be careful."

"Thanks for worrying about me, Amos, but I don't think that there's going to be a problem."

She focused her attention again on the course descriptions. Amos finally left.

"What's his problem?" Severus was standing at her shoulder.

"He's not going to do it. He's afraid."

"I'm not surprised. Are you?"

"Going to leave? Nah, I'm intrigued."

"No, are you afraid?"

Lily thought for a little, "I don't know. I'm a little nervous about it, I suppose."

Severus scrutinized her face, "Well, that's normal. Everyone's a little nervous their first time."

"Even you?" she teased.

"Even me."

"Hey, look at this class!" he pointed at the class descriptions.

"Low-Energy Demonology. Sounds interesting. And I'm already taking the prerequisites. They're on my class list," Lily said.

"Hmmm, I'd have to take Ethical Summoning and Modern Summoning Enchantments."

"You should do it!" Lily begged, "C'mon, it'll be fun!"

"I guess I will. It sounds pretty cool. Now, what other cool stuff can we take?"

Lily spent the next twenty minutes pouring over the descriptions with Severus, trying to decide which extra classes she wanted to take. She finally settled on Low-Energy Demonology, Advanced Common Potions, and Theoretical Potions. Severus decided to take Ethical Summoning, Modern Summoning Enchantments, and Low-Energy Demonology.

Once they had finishing signing up for the new classes, they settled in corner. Only Lily and the Slytherins were left in the room. Lily looked around and noticed someone else was missing.

"Where's that other 7th year? I can't remember his name."

"Antonin Dolohov?"

"Yeah, him. I don't see him anywhere."

"He's away on business. He'll be back by Monday evening."

"I wonder what classes he's taking."

Severus shrugged, "So how did Quidditch tryouts go?"

Lily gaped at him, "How did you know about that?"

"I'm a Slytherin. I know about everything that goes on in this school," he smiled slowly, "Like, for instance, how the teachers are worried about the time that you're spending with us. That's the topic of many of their meetings."

"That's really creepy, you know."

"I agree. They should have better things to discuss."

Lily laughed, "No, I meant you knowing so much about everything."

Severus looked slightly surprised, "I guess it's kind of a survival instinct."

"A survival instinct?" Lily choked slightly.

"Well, yeah. It's how Slytherins survive in this school." Severus shut his eyes and rested his head against the wall.

Lily watched him for a little, "I'm sorry."

He opened one eye and squinted at her, "About what?"

"I don't know. About everything... that you guys have to put up with."

"It's not your fault, Lily."

"I know, I still feel bad."

"And that's exactly what makes you a bad Slytherin."

"Excuse me?"

"You feeling bad about something you don't affect. If fact, just you feeling bad about stuff once it's already happened."

"That's... a bad thing," Lily said slowly.

"It's a weakness."

"Uh huh."

"So, how did tryouts go?"

"I got the position!"

"Congratulations! So I guess this means that you'll be trying to knock me off my broom at our first match."

"You better watch out. What position do you play, anyways?"

"Chaser."

"Same as James and Sirius!"

"Don't remind me," Severus looked very bitter.

"Are you guys ever going to get along?"

"Are you ever going to start shunning your house and come live with us."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Exactly."


	11. Quidditch

A/N: This is a shorter chapter. Hope you like it! Lily's first classes will be in the next one.

beachbabe17 - I'm so excited that you like it! I love when people review and let me know what they think, it keeps me excited about writing!

Don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

* * *

Next Monday's Potions class was very awkward for Lily. Conversation was either with Slytherins or Gryffindors. The houses seemed to revolt if she tried to carry on a conversation with both at once.

She finally gave up and settled on talking just to Evan. He had been highly amused by the whole thing, because Lily had kept on muttering nasty things about the warring people.

"Why can't they just get along?" she moaned to him.

"Do you really want an answer to that?"

"I know why they don't want to get along, but I still think it's nonsense."

"You happen to be the only one who thinks that."

"Not true! Fabian agrees with me! Sort of."

"Who's Fabian?"

"Quidditch team captain."

Evan snapped his fingers, "That's right! I heard that you made Beater! Congrats!"

"Thanks!" Lily smiled, "We have our first practice today. I'm nervous."

"Don't be. Maybe I'll get some people to come watch you."

Lily clutched at his arm, "Oh no! Don't do that! My team would freak!"

"You mean James and Sirius would freak. All the more reason to do it."

Lily frowned, "You're not funny."

"Shame, I thought I was."

"Ha ha."

"Oh!" Evan brought his face closer to Lily's and dropped his voice, "I'm supposed to tell you about where you're going tonight. Don't go back to your common room after your last class. Go out the front doors. There will be some older students going out for some fresh air at that time, so you won't look too suspicious. Go around the left side of the lake to where the forest comes and skirts the shore. We'll be meeting up there. You'll be paired up with an older student, probably someone taking the same subject, who will Apparate out with you. Don't be late; we won't wait for you."

Lily nodded, "Where are we going?"

"Only the people apparating know that."

"Oh."

They worked in silence for a little, then Evan spoke up again.

"You know, I think I will get some people to come watch you. It'll be fun. We'll have a party."

"I can't imagine some of you partying."

Evan looked at her in surprise, "We have big parties all the time in the summer, after hard work sessions."

"Work sessions?"

"Summer in our chance to learn without being under someone's supervision."

"How do you learn anything then?"

"Well, we have older people there to help us teach, but they're not like Dumbledore, or anything like that."

"Sounds like fun."

Evan winced slightly, "Not exactly."

He wouldn't talk any more about it after this, and Lily had trouble getting anything at all out of him. She wondered a little what exactly they did over the summer.

It made Lily rethink her decision to take these classes.

_"Amos was right, you know. You have no idea what you're getting into."_

She was quiet through her next couple of classes and only responded vaguely when Severus tried to ask her what was wrong during Ancient Runes. She was still thinking when she walked down to the Quidditch pitch that afternoon.

James pulled her aside when she got there.

"Lily, what were you thinking?" he hissed at her.

She brushed his hands off crossly, "What are you talking about?"

"How could you possibly think that was a good idea?"

"James, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Your friends that came to watch our practice! All they're going to do is spy on our practice!"

Lily felt heat begin to rise in her face as she realized that Evan had actually made good his threat. Then James's last comment registered and she got angry again.

"Spy on our practice? James, I think maybe you're overreacting. They just came to support me. And by the way, I didn't invite them," she turned and walked away.

When she got onto the pitch, Fabian came towards her.

"Lily, I know you are friends with those people, but they are going to disrupt our practice."

Lily sighed, "I already asked them not to come. They're not going to leave if I ask them to."

"Would you make sure they don't start antagonizing the team?"

"Yeah, ok," she went over the small group in the stands that had cheered when she came out onto the pitch. Severus, Evan, and Bellatrix were there, and Lily was surprised to also see Emmeline and Rabastan.

"Hey Lily!" Evan waved at her, "See how many people wanted to watch you?"

Lily waved at everyone, "Look you guys, I appreciate you coming, but could you refrain from saying anything to everyone else. They're kind of upset that you're here."

"Good," Bellatrix said.

Lily frowned at her, "Please, you guys?"

"But that's what I was looking forwards to most!" protested Severus.

"You were not!" Lily said, dismayed.

"No, of course not. I came to watch you and see if I actually have to worry about you hitting me with anything."

"We'll be quiet," promised Evan.

"Except when we're cheering you on," added Rabastan, whose mohawk was bright green today.

"You know that this is the only time that we're probably going to cheer for you," said Bellatrix, "We can't cheer for you publicly, because that would be cheering for Gryffindor, and we can't do that."

"It's taboo," added Severus.

"You should probably get going," Emmeline pointed behind Lily at the pitch. Lily turned and saw Fabian waving at her to come over.

"Ok. Remember to keep quiet, guys!"

When she got down to the pitch, Fabian gave her a funny look, but didn't say anything.

"Ok, you guys. Today we're just going to play against ourselves. Me, Lily, and Gideon are going to be on one team. Everyone else will be on the other. Let's go!"

The practice went reasonably well, Lily thought, for her first one. The Slytherins kept their promise and were mostly quiet. They couldn't resist cheering loudly when Lily smacked Sirius in the head with a Bludger, making him drop the Quaffle. He glared at her and rubbed the spot where she hit him.

"Nice shot, Lily!" yelled Fabian as he swooped by, "Fly it off, Sirius."

By the end of practice, Lily was aching in places that she didn't know she could ache in. She looked at the stands, but the Slytherins had all left.

"Ok, you guys. Great practice! We ran a little late, so you guys should hurry for dinner."

As everyone dispersed, Fabian pulled Lily aside, "Wait and walk up to the castle with me."

"Ok," said Lily, wondering what she did wrong.

She helped him get all of the equipment together and strapped back into the case. They started to carry it up to the castle together.

"Now, Lily. I know that you like the Slytherins, and I respect that you can hang out with whoever you want to. As a captain though, I have to worry about team dynamic. If you don't spend any time with your own house, you're not going to develop that synchronization that is essential within a team. I'm not asking you to stop hanging out with your friends altogether, I just want you to try to make an effort to hang out with the team more often," he looked at her sideways.

"That shouldn't really be a problem, Fabian. I like hanging out with them, they just weren't very nice when I decided I wasn't going to shun who they wanted me to."

"James and Sirius again?"

"They've calmed down a lot. I guess we've kind of made a truce," Lily grinned.

"James and Sirius compromised? I can't believe you got them to do that, Lily! You're amazing!"

"Oh, not really. Alice helped."

"Don't be modest. It's a -"

"Weakness?" Lily interjected.

"No," said Fabian, giving her a funny look, "I was going to say that it's a good thing only in moderation. Take credit where you deserve it."

"Oh."

When they entered the Great Hall, everyone was already well into dinner. They got a couple of funny looks from various people. Lily saw that Severus was watching them pass with narrowed eyes.

"Uh oh," Fabian sounded amused.

"What?"

"We've given everyone something new to gossip about."

Lily groaned, "I can just imagine Bertha's reaction."

"Yeah well, you don't have to deal with her in all of your classes."

"Good point. I feel really bad for you."

"You should," he said with a grin.

Lily laughed and went to sit by her group. Alice winked at her and James looked a little sour.

"Not you too!" she exclaimed, "Look, Fabian just wanted to talk to me about developing a better team dynamic. He wants me to spend more time with you guys!"

Sirius laughed, "There you go, James. You got all worked up over nothing."

James scowled at him and punched his arm.

"Ow!"

Lily looked determinedly away from James, who was blushing furiously. Alice grinned at her and wiggled her eyebrows in an exact imitation of Sirius.


	12. The Dark Lord

A/N: Let's explore Lily's destiny! Hope you like the chapter. I had lot's of fun writing it!

Read and Review!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

* * *

When Lily left her Herbology class later that night, she told everyone else that she had to ask Professor Sprout a question. She watched them walk away, and then turned towards the lake. She hurried along the left edge, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. When she reached the trees, she didn't see anyone and wondered if she had remembered the place right.

"Hey Lily!" someone whispered behind her.

She turned and peered into the trees. She saw Rabastan beckoning at her. With one last glance towards the castle, she followed him into the forest.

He led her a little ways in, to where a larger group was talking quietly.

"You're a little early," he turned back to her once they had reached the others.

"I had Herbology," she explained.

"Well, we're going to have to wait for Walden. He's our group leader."

Lily nodded and turned to watch everyone else. There was an air of suppressed excitement, and Lily was starting to get a knot in her stomach.

"Are you ready to go?"

Walden Macnair had arrived.

"Hey Lily."

She nodded back nervously.

"We should go. Antonin will join us there. He has to take another group."

'So Antonin's taking Necromancy too?" asked Lily.

"Yeah. Ok, take hold of my arm. Don't let go, we'll be there in a sec."

Lily shut her eyes as everything around her disappeared. Her breath was squeezed out of her, and when they arrived at their destination, Lily let out a huge gasp.

Walden looked at her and smiled, "Feels funny, doesn't it?"

"Yeah."

Lily looked around and gasped again. They were outside of a very large stone mansion. She followed Rabastan and Walden up towards it, experiencing a strange deja vu from her arrival at Hogwarts. This castle looked sort of like the school's dark counterpart.

They entered into the front door and were met by a figure wrapped in black robes.

"What classes?" it asked in a husky voice.

"Necromancy."

It turned without a word and led them down a narrow staircase to a dark passageway with low ceilings. Lily glanced into one of the doors as they passed and saw what appeared to be a skeleton chained to a dusty wall.

She shivered and didn't look into any of the other doors that they passed. They finally entered a circular room with a dirt floor. The ceiling opened out here and Lily finally felt like she could breathe properly.

The shadowy figure left without a word. Lily and Rabastan glanced at each other nervously. Walden didn't appear to be worried. He stretched out against the wall and stuck his hands inside his robes.

"We'll have to wait until Antonin gets here," he said comfortably.

"What do you think we'll be doing today?" Lily asked.

"Since it's the first day, we won't get into anything really deep. We'll meet our main teacher, get an intro to the subject, ask questions... you know, that sort of stuff."

"Who's our main teacher?"

A shadow of fear passed over Walden's face before he answered in a lowered voice, "The Dark Lord has agreed to teach us. It is a great honor to be taught by him. This is the first year that he has been a main teacher. Being chosen as one of students is a great thing. Us Slytherins who have been chosen will be given a new level of respect. You, however, are not a Slytherin. I don't know what will happen with you."

Lily sighed, "It probably won't be very good."

"Good? I don't know about good, but it will certainly be advantageous. Some will be even more in awe of you because you are not a Slytherin, but have still been chosen."

"Amos Diggory was chosen too!"

"But he refused. He did not have the right mindset and did not deserve to be taught what we will be taught."

They were interrupted by Antonin finally arriving. He nodded at each of them in turn. They looked at each other nervously. Now that Antonin was here, they should be starting soon.

A hooded figure in black materialized in the center of the room. Lily thought for a second that their guide had returned, but then she realized that this was a new person. The figure radiated coldness, power, and seduction. It was a tantalizing combination.

The other Slytherins started to bow, but the figure held up its hands.

"Not now. Now we must focus on the task before us. We have a limited time to do this," his voice was soft and silky, with an undercurrent of steel running through it. Lily found it fascinating to listen to.

The four students ranged themselves in a half circle in front of him.

He began to talk, "Necromancy is not a difficult concept. It is essentially the raising of the dead. You call a person's spirit back into their body for a certain period of time. The longer the period of reanimation, the more powerful the necromancer must be."

Lily thought instantly of her Ancient Runes teacher.

"You cannot call someone's spirit back without putting it into a body. You can put the spirit into any body you wish to, even that of a live person. The host's spirit will simply be pushed aside until the guest leaves."

He stopped talking for a little and watched them.

"I choose you four because you have the power and mental capacity to do this. Most people cannot do Necromancy. Only a very few have the finesse. I am one of them. I hope that you will be four more."

Lily glanced around at the others, but they had their eyes fixed on the figure. She looked back and found the hooded cowl facing her direction.

"Lily Evans," this was breathed with a hint of relish, "You are unusual. I don't know why you weren't put in Slytherin. It's the only place that you seem to fit properly."

Lily thought back to the Sorting Hat's hint of something hidden in her head, but didn't say anything.

"No matter, I have still found you. You are powerful. I have not tasted such power in a very long time. You shall be one of my greatest followers."

The other figures shifted uncomfortably. He laughed.

"Yes, a Gryffindor will be greater then any of you. That stings, doesn't it? But no matter, you will still be of great service to me. Do not forget that you were chosen over the others to be my students."

He considered Lily again.

"But you do not know who I am. I am the greatest wizard alive today. That may sound boastful, but it's true. I am Lord Voldemort."

Lily shuddered when she heard the name, without knowing why.

He laughed again, "See? Even you, who do not know who I am, fear my name. No matter, you will not call me that. You will call me the Dark Lord. It is a suitable title, is it not? But you will learn to revere it. Worship it, and this face."

He pulled his hood down away from his face. Lily drew back slightly as he did so. Not because he was terrible to look at. Oh no, he was beautiful. But there was something etched into his face, something that terrified her and drew her in at the same time. His eyes were jet black and seemed to draw in all light from around him. He looked at her expression and read it correctly.

"Oh yes," he whispered, "You will be great. Already you feel yourself being drawn to me."

He smiled and pulled his hood back up, "We must not frighten the others. They cannot work properly with my face uncovered. Do you know why? They have known me since birth. They have been taught to fear me. But you, you can view me with an open mind, and you see what all others have failed to see."

Lily drew in her breath slowly. She couldn't take her eyes off of the place where his eyes had slid back into darkness. He looked away from her and she felt like she had been doused in cold water.

"Now, let's see a demonstration of this subject that you are going to study," he backed away from them slowly, "But who shall we bring back? Your parents?" he turned suddenly to Lily.

She spoke to him for the first time, "Sir, my Lord, my parents are alive."

"Your parents are alive? I don't think so. Your pretend parents, maybe. But we have no wish to talk to them. They are ignorant Mudbloods. But I think that maybe you are not ready to meet your parents. We'll have to find someone else. Perhaps, yes, that's what we'll do."

He raised one of his arms and pointed at the ground. A dark mist started to rise, faster and faster. His hand formed into a claw shape and he began to pull back, away from the floor. He raised his hand, filled with mist. As his other hand reached out and pointed towards Rabastan, he opened his fist and released the mist. It floated gently towards Rabastan. Right before it reached him, it vanished. All of the mist disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

Rabastan closed his eyes and shuddered. He opened them again and let out a long breath.

"So, you feel a need to show me off, do you?" he said in a high pitched voice. "Are you trying to scare them? Not many have the courage to converse with me."

The Dark Lord simply pointed at Lily. Rabastan, or whoever was inside of him, turned and looked at her.

"Scum!" he hissed suddenly, "Gryffindor scum!"

Lily flinched.

"Look closer," said the Dark Lord impatiently.

Rabastan drew closer to Lily and peered into her face. Then he drew back suddenly, "Why is she is Gryffindor? Has our old Hat gone daft?"

"Perhaps it has made a mistake," said the Dark Lord softly.

"Impossible!" he pounded himself on the chest, "I personall-" he stopped suddenly and looked down at himself, "What is this? What has this poor abused boy had done to him?"

"I believe he did it himself."

"But why? How horrible! He has ruined his fine physique!"

The Dark Lord sighed, " Well, you're no longer helpful. I'm going to send you back," he reached out towards Rabastan, who was feeling his chest with a look of deep disgust on his face, and pulled back on the air. Rabastan closed his eyes again and let out that same, slow breath.

He opened his eyes to find them all looking at him and started.

"That," said the Dark Lord, and everyone looked back at him, "Was Salazar Slytherin. Our fine founding father. A man with great vision, although he had a few unfortunate weaknesses."

Rabastan seemed to realize what had just happened and looked at himself carefully.

The Dark Lord noticed, "You are fine. I got rid of him before he decided to rip those things out of your chest."

Rabastan looked down at himself fearfully and winced.

"You are responsible for the host's body while it is taken over," the Dark Lord continued to the group, "Nothing that you did not intend to happen, should happen to it."

Lily looked at her hands and wondered if she really did have the power to control the dead.

"Necromancy is very difficult. I do not expect you to successfully do it the first time you try, or even the second and third times. Except for you," he turned to Lily again, "I know you can do it. You will have no difficulty with the basics. You will advance quickly and leave the others far behind. You will learn how to do many things that you didn't think were possible. I am looking forward to teaching you."

Lily leaned forward slightly, eagerly.

"Now, however, you must go back to your school. Tomorrow night your classes will begin for real. You will not see me in all of them, but I will be aware of what is going on. I expect full devotion to your studies. Slacking will be punished. Do not linger in or around the castle after you leave me. There are many things that you would not wish to meet."

He nodded to each of them in turn, and then disappeared. Lily stood stock still for a little, and then started walking towards the door behind the others. Their guide was waiting for them and led them back up to the door the same way they had come. Lily walked in a daze and didn't pay much attention when Walden grabbed her and Apparated back to Hogwarts. She followed them blindly back to the castle.

Walden said something about it being her first time and shook her. Her head cleared a little and she looked up at him.

"Lily, you need to go back to your Common Room, ok? You need to get some sleep. You've just spoken with the Dark Lord face to face and your body needs time to recover. Go straight to your bed. Don't stop to talk to anyone."

She nodded and started to walk away. Her mind had cleared a little and she thought of something suddenly. She turned back around.

"Rabastan!"

He came towards her.

"What do you have on your chest?"

Rabastan pushed his robes out of the way and lifted up his shirt. Both of his nipples were pierced. He gave Lily a wry grin.

"Oh, I thought it was something more exciting then that."

"Nope. I guess he just has an aversion to piercing."

"Ok, well, goodnight."

"See you tomorrow, Lily."

When Lily got to her room Molly and Alice were both asleep. The other bed was still empty.

She sighed. That mystery just didn't seem as important anymore.


	13. I Love Slytherins

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update, I hit a small block. I couldn't decide what to cover next. Hope you like the new chapter!

Please review! I only have four reviews so far! I would love to know what you all think!

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns what she created.

* * *

When Lily woke up the next morning, she lay in bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. 

'The Dark Lord'. She liked the way it felt on her tongue. She was looking forward to being taught by him, to hearing what he had to say.

She couldn't wait until tonight's lessons.

Lily found, when she went to her other classes, that the subject material didn't seem nearly as interesting compared to what she was looking forward to. It all seemed so tame.

_"You're probably just glamorizing your new subjects," _she reminded herself.

"Lily!" James ran up from behind her and fell into step.

"Hey James."

"We're having a club meeting today, during free time. Wanna come?"

She eyed him warily, "What club?"

"It's a new one," he said cheerfully, "Me, Sirius, Remus, and Peter came up with it."

"Uh huh. You think I'm going to like it?"

"For sure! It's right up your alley."

"Ok, what is it?"

"We Hate Slimy Slytherins."

Lily stared at him, horrified, "You can't be serious!"

"You're right, I'm not. I'm James."

Lily started laughing, "Don't be stupid. There is no way I'm coming to your idiotic club meeting!"

"Aw, come on! Just one meeting! Maybe you'll like it! I promise I won't make you wear the club T-shirt."

"You have T-shirts? Wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know."

"Will you come? Please!"

Lily sighed, "Alright, just to the first meeting. But if I get offended I'm leaving."

"Sweet! Oh, and we need a mascot. Do you think maybe you can bring Snape along?" He laughed and ducked Lily's swing.

"Hey! I could still decide to not come! You need to be nice."

"You won't do that, you're too nice! By the way do you know the first Hogsmeade trip is this weekend?"

"Is it really? I'm so excited!"

James clasped his hands together mockingly, "Me too! We can go shopping!"

Lily laughed, "If you really want to."

"So you'll hang out with me then? Cool, I'll meet you in the Front Hall! See you later!" he ran off.

"Well, I guess I walked right into that one," Lily sighed.

"Into what?"

Lily turned around and saw Fabian.

"James conned me into agreeing to spend the Hogsmeade trip with him."

"Oh," Fabian had a funny look on his face, "You know, you could just tell him that you don't want to go."

"I don't really mind. It might be amusing," Lily noticed Fabian fidgeting with his shirt, "Are you ok?"

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Um, if you, you know, get bored, or something. I mean, James can get annoying sometimes. So if you want to, you don't have to, but if you want to, you know-"

"Fabian," Lily held a hand up, "Would you like to meet me for lunch at Hogsmeade?"

Fabian turned red, "Oh, um... sure! If you want to."

Lily laughed, "I would love to. Where should we meet?"

"Um, how about the Three Broomsticks?"

"I'll have to trust your judgment. I've never been," Lily said, "How about we plan on meeting there at 12 o'clock?"

"That's fine. Do you know how to get there?"

"Oooo, no. I'll have to get James to walk me over."

Fabian nodded and swung his hands a little at his side, "Soo, I guess I'll see you then?"

"Yeah! For sure! See you then!" Lily waved and began to walk again to her next class.

"Bye!" she heard Fabian call behind her.

She smiled and shook her head. Guys could be so ridiculously shy sometimes. Well, most guys. Just look at James and Sirius. Definitely not the kind to bottle up their feelings.

Later, in Care of Magical Creatures, Lily started to wish that James and Sirius would bottle up sometimes. Her and Severus were chasing around a large, scaly insect that kept on shooting darts at them. James and Sirius had already subdued theirs and were running around yelling out useless pieces of advice.

Lily finally managed to immobilize the bug and carefully removed its dart pouch. She handed it to Severus, who wrapped the pouch in cloth and took it to the Professor. Lily wiped her forehead and stood up.

"You were not being helpful," she frowned at James and Sirius.

"You wouldn't have done it without our support."

"Really," said Lily, wincing as she pulled out a stray dart, "I think I would have."

Severus came back and told Lily that they were allowed to leave.

"Great!" said James brightly, "We can get going to the meeting!"

"What meeting?" Severus asked.

Sirius started to sneer at him, but James interrupted him, "A club meeting. Wanna come?"

"Hey! You need to behave! He's not going!" Lily growled at James.

Sirius chuckled, "Did she just indirectly call you a naughty boy?"

Lily huffed and marched away. Honestly, sometimes she wanted to squash their heads with a large rock.

She told Severus so when he came up besides her.

"You are such a Slytherin," he smiled.

"Don't say that about Lily!" James was following.

"He's allowed to complement me," Lily said slyly.

James spluttered a little and Severus smiled twistedly.

"Oh, James," Lily snapped her fingers, "About Hogsmeade."

James looked anxious.

"Don't worry, I'm still planning on going with you. I'm just going to meet Fabian for lunch."

"Any particular reason?" James asked casually.

"No, we're just going to hang out. Why?"

"I was kind of hoping he just wanted to discuss Quidditch tactics with you."

"That worried about the game next week?" Severus sneered.

"We're going to whoop your ass," Sirius started a victory dance around them. Severus watched him with narrowed eyes. His hand was twitching towards his pocket.

Lily grabbed his arm, "Severus," she said warningly.

He patted her on the arm, "Don't worry, I wouldn't do anything around you. I think."

"Hey!" Sirius had come to a stop in front of them, "Don't touch her!"

Lily rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around Severus's waist, "You mean like this?"

Severus smirked and put his arm around her shoulders.

James leaped at him, but Severus side-stepped at the same time as Lily jumped forward in front of him. James's fist connected with Lily's nose and a deafening crack echoed through the air.

Everyone froze as Lily collapsed, unconscious. Horrified, James started towards her, but was stopped by Severus.

"Don't touch her," he hissed, "You'll only do more harm." He knelt next to Lily and rolled her over gently. James winced when he saw her bloody face.

Severus touched her gently and said, "_Enervate_."

Lily stirred and opened her eyes, "Wha- what happened? What's wrong with my face?" she reached up, and when she felt her broken nose she winced horribly.

"What the bloody hell happened to my nose?" she started to jump up, but Severus held her down by the shoulders.

"Will you hold still for a second so I can fix it?" he attempted to hold her with one hand while he healed her with the other, but he was forced to drop his wand in order to hold her down, "Hold still for a little!"

"James! What did you do to my nose?" Lily roared.

"Um... well... you see..."

"He punched you," Severus said dryly.

"You did what?" Lily shrieked.

"I didn't mean to!" James looked alarmed at Lily's increased efforts to get free of Severus's restraining arms.

"So, what, your fist just happened to connect with my nose?"

James hurried to explain, "I was aiming for Snape, but he moved and you jumped in front! I wasn't trying to hit you!"

Lily swore. A fresh spurt of blood poured down her face. Severus pushed her back into the ground, hard.

"Stop moving! Let me fix it and then you can do whatever you want to James!"

Lily complied and Severus fixed her nose. She wiped at the blood still on her face and got up. James looked apprehensive.

"Where's my wand?"

Sirius held it out to her. She grabbed it and whipped it out at James. He jumped backwards.

"Whoa, whoa, Lily! Slow down! I didn't mean to! I'm really sorry!"

Lily considered him for a little and then spoke to Severus over her shoulder.

"What curse should I use?"

"Avada Kadavra?"

James chuckled nervously, "That's a good one... yeah."

Lily frowned at him and decided what to do. He deserved this one, no questions asked, Sure, he didn't mean to punch her, but he shouldn't have tried to hit Severus. She waved her wand at him and his clothes changed so that they were decorated with Slytherin emblems.

James looked down at himself, "Well, that wasn't too ba-"

Lily waved her wand again. A vivid tattoo proclaiming 'I love Slytherins' appeared on his forehead. James looked at himself again, but didn't see anything. Severus was doubled over laughing. Sirius looked horrified, but seemed afraid to do anything, in case Lily decided to hex him too.

Lily nodded, satisfied, and walked back up to the castle with Severus, who was still laughing.

She heard James behind her asking Sirius frantically, "What did she do?"

Lily smiled grimly. She was the only one who could remove the tattoo, and she wasn't doing that until James had more then made up for what he did. She had charmed it so that he couldn't conceal or remove it. He was stuck with it until she changed her mind.


End file.
